AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE
Here, that points out which girl is meant. (i) Some is used in affirmative sentence while any is
He gave me ten oranges. used in negative sentence.
̄ For example,
Adjective He has not some problems. —wrong
Here, ten shows how many oranges he gave me. He has not any problems. —correct
KINDS OF ADJECTIVES She has any money with her. —wrong
She has some money with her. —correct
Adjectives are of the following kinds:
(ii) Many is used before countable noun while much is
(1) Adjective of quality
used before uncountable noun.
(2) Adjective of quantity
For example,
(3) Adjective of number.
The accident caused many damages. —wrong
(4) Demonstrative Adjective
The accident caused much damages. —correct
(5) Distributive Adjective She met much people there. —wrong
(6) Emphasizing Adjective She met many people there. —correct
(7) Interrogative Adjective (iii) Many a much should not be used objectively. Use a
(8) Possessive Adjective large number of, a large amount of, a great deal of,
(9) Proper Adjective plenty of etc. instead of much or many.
(10) Relative Adjective For example,
(11) Exclamatory Adjective She asked me many questions. —wrong
She asked me a large number of questions.
(1) ADJECTIVE OF QUALITY
—correct
These Adjectives show the kind or quality of a per-
Mohan drank much water —wrong
son or a thing.
Mohan drank plenty of water —correct
For example,
(iv) Few and little cannot be used for the sense of a few
The Ganges is a holy river.
and a little.
Calcutta is a large city.
For example,
He is an honest man. Few persons were there to help me —wrong
(i) In using Adjectives of Quality, we first use ordinal A few persons were there to help me —correct
then cardinal.
After a long journey she got little tired —wrong
For example, After a long journey she got a little tired —correct
She has read the three first Chapters.—wrong
Note : The meaning of few and little is nothing. Al-
She has read the first three Chapters.—correct ways, use hardly / any in such cases.
I have read the four last stanzas. —wrong For example,
I have read the last four stanzas. —correct. Bill has hardly any money to give me.
(ii) One or two Adjectives can be used before or after He has hardly any books to give me.
Nouns.
(v) A few or a little cannot be used at the place of the
A black and white film few and the little.
̄ ̄ ̄ For example,
Adj Adj Noun I gave him books a few I had —wrong
A film black and white I gave him books the few I had —correct
̄ ̄ ̄ She gave me money a little she had —wrong
Noun Adj Adj She gave me money the little she had —correct
But,
(iii) The following Adjectives are used only predicatively. (3) ADJECTIVE OF NUMBER
sleep, awake, afraid, ashamed, alike, alone etc. Adjectives of number (or Numeral Adjectives) are those
For example, that show how many are meant or in what order :
Ram is an alone boy. —wrong For example,
Ram is alone. —correct five, fifth, one, first, all, few, many, some etc.
Ravi is an ashamed boy. —wrong There are two kinds of Adjectives of number those
Ravi is ashamed. —correct which show exactly how many persons or things there
are, or in what order in a series any of them stands, are
(2) ADJECTIVE OF QUANTITY called Definite Numerals : four, fourth, nine, ninth etc.
Adjectives of quantity show how much of a thing is (i) Those Adjectives of Number which do not show what
meant. the exact number is, are called Indefinite Numerals: all,
For example, few, many more, sever all, some etc.
All, any, enough, half, little, much, no, whole, some etc. For example,
For example, All men must die.
He drank much milk. Few cats like cold water.
I want some paper. Many boys were present.
I drank a little milk. Some rose are white.
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