Adjectives Of Quantity

Adjectives of quantity answer the question ‘how much?’. Examples are: some, any, little, much, enough, sufficient, insufficient, all, whole, great etc.

Examples are:

• We need to buy some coffee.
• I have little faith in the system.
• She didn’t each much breakfast.
• We haven’t got enough time.
• The meteorological department has predicted that there will be sufficient rain this year.
• All his life he worked for the poor and the needy.
• Have you got any rice?

Notes

Some is mostly used in affirmative sentences. Any is mostly used in negatives and interrogative sentences.

• There is some water in the pot.
• Is there any water in the pot?
• No, there isn’t any water in the pot.

Little, a little and the little

Little has a negative meaning. It means hardly any. A little indicates a very small quantity. Little is usually used with singular uncountable nouns.

• I have little interest in politics. (= I have hardly any interest in politics.)
• We have got a little milk. (= We have got a very little quantity of milk.)
• The cat drank the little milk we had. (= We only had a very little quantity of milk but the cat drank the whole of it.)

Enough can be used as an adjective or as an adverb. When it is used as an adjective, it goes before a noun. When it is used as an adverb, it goes after an adjective.

• We haven’t got enough chairs. (Here the adjective enough modifies the noun chairs.)
• He was kind enough to help me. (Here the adverb enough modifies the adjective kind.)

All and whole

All and whole have similar meanings, but they are used differently.

• He lived all his life in France. (NOT He lived his all life in France.)
• He lived his whole life in France. (NOT He lived whole his life in France.)