一、修饰可数名词的常用修饰语
有these, those, few, a few, many, a good [great] many, a great [good] number of 等:
Few people would agree with this. 很少人会同意这种看法。
He has a great many friends here. 他在这儿有很多朋友。
【注】a good [great] many 后直接跟名词,不用介词of。但是,若其后所接名词有the, these, my 等限定词修饰,则要用介词of:a great many of my friends 我的朋友当中的许多人
二、修饰不可数名词的常用修饰语
有this, that, little, a little, a bit of, much, a great deal of, a large amount of 等:
I have little time to do it. 我没什么时间来做此事。
He didn’t give me much money. 他没给我很多钱。
A great deal of money is spent on research. 研究工作上花了许多钱。
【注】在现代英语中,a great amount of 后有时也接可数名词,但有许多语法学家反对,学生最好避免使用。
三、修饰(不)可数名词的常用修饰语
有些修饰语既可修饰可数名词也可修饰不可数名词,如all, some, enough, a lot of, lots of, plentyof, a (large) quantity of 等:
You needn’t hurry. There’s plenty of time. 你不必着急。时间多着哩。
There are plenty of men out of work. 失业的人很多。
We need a quantity of baskets. 我们需要一批篮子。
He put a small quantity of sugar in the milk. 他在牛奶中放了少量的糖。
四、易错说明
有些名词形式上是复数,但却被用作不可数名词,使用much, little等修饰语:
He hasn’t got much brains. 他没什么头脑。
He took much pains to do the work. 他费了不少心做这工作。
I said I wouldn’t want much wages. 我说过我不要很多工资。
It’s high time you were taught a little manners. 该是你学一点礼貌的时候了。