Adjectives with Nouns

Here we will study about the adjectives that we can use with countable and uncountable nouns.

Many, A few, Much, A little

We use ‘many’ and ‘a few’ with countable nouns and ‘much’ and ‘a little’ with uncountable nouns.

There are many bullets in the ordinance factory. (bullets – countable noun)
There are only a few bullets in the ordinance factory. (bullets – countable noun)

There is much milk left for all the kids. (milk – uncountable noun)
There is only a little milk left for the children. (milk – uncountable noun)

A lot of, some

There are some adjectives that we can use with both countable and uncountable nouns.

In case of uncountable nouns we generally use ‘a lot’ of instead of ‘much’.
There is a lot of milk left for all of us. (milk – uncountable noun)

We can use ‘a lot of’ even in case of countable nouns.
There are a lot of bullets in his pocket. (bullets – countable noun)

Similarly, ‘some’ can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
There are some bullets in the ordinance factory that doesn’t work. (bullets – countable noun)
There is some milk left in the glass. (milk – uncountable noun)

Less, Fewer

If we are comparing, then with countable nouns we do not use less, but instead we use fewer.

If you have 3 gallons of milk (uncountable noun) and I only have 2, then I can say:
You have more milk than me. OR
I have less milk than you.

If you have 3 dogs (countable noun) and I have 2, then I can say:
You have more dogs than me. OR
I have fewer dogs than you. (I have less dogs than you)

Summary