2017-09-21 Grammar: quantifiers

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homeowrk: finish Handout p. 30 - Rewrite the sentences to have parallel structure.
1 Tom enjoys swimming and skating.
2 He wore a green suede jacket, a flowered shirt, and multicolored platform shoes.
3 At 16, I was wild, outspoken, and uncaring.
4 The work was difficult and dangerous.
5 ...roles: wife, mother, student, worker.
6 When the teacher left the room, I talked loudly, fought with my classmates, threw paper airplanes, and even climbed on the desks. (all simple past)
  When the teacher left the room, I would talk loudly, fight with my classmates, throw paper airplanes, and even climb on the desks. (all base form after “would”)
7 ...punished me: I couldn’t go out, talk on the phone, or have company. (all base form after “couldn’t”)
  ...punished me: no going out, no talking on the phone, and no having company. (all gerund)
  = …: no going out, talking on the phone, or having company.
8 Slowly, easily, and soundlessly, the dancers moved offstage. (all adverbs)
9 The drums were pounding, throbbing, rising, and falling. (all past continuous)
  The drums pounded, throbbed, rose, and fell. (all simple past)
10 Good writing must be honest, fresh, and precise. (all adjectives)
   Good writing must have honesty, freshness, precision. (all nouns)
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I couldn’t do A, B, or C. = I couldn’t do A, I couldn’t do B, and I couldn’t do C.
I couldn’t do A, B, and C. = I couldn’t do all three of them together.
“You can’t drink and drive.” = You can’t do both at the same time, but you can still drink at one time and drive at another.
“You can’t drink or drive.” = You are not allowed to drink, and you are also not allowed to drive.
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English has some dual words, which are for talking about exactly two things. Dual words usually correspond to another word used for plurals (in this case more than two things).
cheaper / cheapest (comparatives are for two things, superlatives are for more than two)
whether / which
neither of them / none of them
either of them / any of them
both of them / all of them
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There are of course words between “all” and “none”
Quantifiers: words that tell the quantity of something
Countable quantifiers answer the question, “How many?”
Uncountable quantifiers answer, “How much?”
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many > quite a few > some > a few > a couple (None of these are specific numbers.)
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“a little” and “a few” are affirmative words, similar to “some”
“little” and “few” are negative words, similar to (but more than) “hardly any”
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exercise 4 - Complete these sentences with a few / a little / few / little
1 few
2 a little
3 a few
4 little
5 few
6 little
7 a few
8 little