Quantifier

Quantifiers indicate quantity. Some examples of quantifiers include: all, some, many, few, and no. Quantifiers are also dependent of a noun. It is important to acknowledge that quantifiers only indicate a vague quantity of objects, not a specific number, such as twelve, dozen, first, single, or once, which would be considered numerals.

Count Nouns

In linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun that can be modified by a numeral) and that occurs in both singular and plural forms, and that co-occurs with quantificational determiners like every, each, several, etc. A mass noun has none of these properties, because it cannot be modified by a numeral, cannot occur in plural, and cannot co-occur with quantificational determiners.

Examples

Below are examples of all the properties of count nouns holding for the count noun chair, but not for the mass noun furniture.

Occurrence in plural/singular.

• There is a chair in the room.
• There are chairs in the room.
• There is chair in the room. (incorrect)
• There is a furniture in the room. (incorrect)
• There are furnitures in the room. (incorrect)
• There is furniture in the room.

Co-occurrence with count determiners

• Every chair is man made.
• There are several chairs in the room.
• Every furniture is man made. (incorrect)
• There are several furnitures in the room. (incorrect)

Some determiners can be used with both mass and count nouns, including "some", "a lot (of)", "no".

Others cannot: "few" and "many" are used with count items, "little" and "much" with mass. (On the other hand, "fewer" is reserved for count and "less" for mass, but "more" is the proper comparative for both "many" and "much".)

Mass Nouns

In linguistics, a mass noun, uncountable noun, or non-count noun is a noun with the syntactic property that any quantity of it is treated as an undifferentiated unit, rather than as something with discrete subsets. Non-count nouns are distinguished from count nouns.

In English, mass nouns are characterized by the fact that they cannot be directly modified by a numeral without specifying a unit of measurement, and that they cannot combine with an indefinite article (a or an). Thus, the mass noun "water" is quantified as "20 litres of water" while the count noun "chair" is quantified as "20 chairs". However, both mass and count nouns can be quantified in relative terms without unit specification (e.g., "so much water," "so many chairs").

Some mass nouns can be used in English in the plural to mean "more than one instance (or example) of a certain sort of entity"—for example, Many cleaning agents today are technically not soaps, but detergents. In such cases they no longer play the role of mass nouns, but (syntactically) they are treated as count nouns.

Some nouns can be used indifferently as mass or count nouns, e.g., three cabbages or three heads of cabbage; three ropes or three lengths of rope. Some have different senses as mass and count nouns: paper is a mass noun as a material (three reams of paper, two sheets of paper), but a count noun as a unit of writing (the students passed in their papers).

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are nouns that – even when they are inflected for the singular – refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity. Examples include committee, government, and police. These nouns may be followed by a singular or a plural verb and referred to by a singular or plural pronoun, the singular being generally preferred when referring to the body as a unit and the plural often being preferred, especially in British English, when emphasizing the individual members. Examples of acceptable and unacceptable use given by Gowers in Plain Words include:

• A committee was appointed to consider this subject. (singular)
• The committee were unable to agree. (plural)
• The committee were of one mind when I sat on them. (unacceptable use of plural)

Singulars and Plurals

English nouns are inflected for grammatical number, meaning that if they are of the countable type, they generally have different forms for singular and plural. This article discusses the variety of ways in which plural nouns are formed from the corresponding singular forms, as well as various issues concerning the usage of singulars and plurals in English. For plurals of pronouns, see personal pronouns

English Grammar

English grammar is the way in which meanings are encoded into wordings in the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, right up to the structure of whole texts.

Humor

Humor is subjective, but at least the author tried.

Determiner

A determiner is a word or phrase that comes before a noun (or noun phrase) to clarify what that noun refers to — whether it's specific or general, how much of it there is, or who it belongs to. Getting determiners right is essential because English usually requires one to form a complete noun phrase.

Types of determiners

Articles are the most common determiners. English has the definite article the and the indefinite article a/an. For a deeper look, see articles.

• The dog barked all night. (specific dog)
• I adopted a dog last week. (not yet identified to the listener)

Demonstratives — this, that, these, those — point to specific items based on proximity or context.

• These shoes are too tight.

Possessives show ownership: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, plus Saxon genitives like Maria's or the company's.

• Her presentation was excellent.

Quantifiers indicate amount or number: some, any, many, much, few, little, several, all, both, enough, cardinal numbers (one, two, three…), and phrases like a lot of or plenty of.

• ✅ There are few options left. (almost none)
• ✅ There are a few options left. (some — a small but positive number)

Distributives and alternatives — each, every, either, neither — refer to individual members of a group.

• Every student submitted the assignment on time.

Interrogative and relative determiners — which, what, whose, whatever, whichever — introduce questions or relative clauses.

• Which train are you taking?

When no determiner is needed

Sometimes a noun phrase is complete without any determiner (often called the zero determiner or zero article). This is common with plural and uncountable nouns used in a general sense:

• Coffee keeps me awake. (coffee in general, not a specific cup)
• Dogs are loyal animals.

Combining determiners

Determiners can sometimes stack in specific patterns:

• All the chairs were taken.
• My many friends helped out.

The first determiner in such combinations (like all or both) is sometimes called a pre-determiner.

Common mistake: Don't double up where English doesn't allow it. You can say all my friends but not all my the friends.

Quick reference

Ready to practise? Try Articles Basics for a solid foundation, Determiners: Some, Any, Few, and Little for tricky quantifiers, or Basics. Determiners and Pronouns. for an overview of how determiners and pronouns work together.

Negation

A finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing the word not after an auxiliary, modal or other "special" verb such as do, can or be. For example, the clause I go is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary do, as I do not go. When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs (I am going), no other auxiliary verbs are added to negate the clause (I am not going). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: I go not.)

Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with not have contracted forms: don't, can't, isn't, etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of can is written as a single word cannot.) On inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: Should he not pay? or Shouldn't he pay?

Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word not before them: not the right answer, not interesting, not to enter, not noticing the train, etc.

When other negating words such as never, nobody, etc. appear in a sentence, the negating not is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): I saw nothing or I didn't see anything, but not (except in non-standard speech) I didn't see nothing. Such negating words generally have corresponding negative polarity items (ever for never, anybody for nobody, etc.) which can appear in a negative context, but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).

Questions

Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to be formed by inverting the positions of verb and subject. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("special verbs"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the copula be. To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb do (does, did) needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question. For example:

• She can dance. → Can she dance? (inversion of subject she and auxiliary can)
• I am sitting here. → Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject I and copula am)
• The milk goes in the fridge. → Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; do-support required)

The above concerns yes-no questions, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with interrogative words such as where, what, how, etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:

• I go. → Where do I go? (wh-question formed using inversion, with do-support required in this case)
• He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word who is the subject)

Note that inversion does not apply in indirect questions: I wonder where he is (not *... where is he). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed using if or whether as the interrogative word: *Ask them whether/if they saw him*.

Negative questions are formed similarly; however if the verb undergoing inversion has a contraction with not, then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:

• John is going. (affirmative)
• John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction)
• Isn't John going? / Is John not going? (negative question, with and without contraction respectively)

Tag questions are formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: isn't it?; were there?; am I not?

A2 | Elementary | Pre-intermediate

CEFR A2 is the second level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, often called elementary or pre-intermediate. If you're at this stage, you've moved beyond the basics of A1 and can handle simple, real-life communication — but you're still building the foundations you'll need for B1 and beyond.

What can an A2 learner do?

At A2, you can:

• Understand everyday expressions related to familiar topics — personal details, family, shopping, work, and your local area.
• Communicate in routine situations that involve a simple, direct exchange of information (e.g. ordering food, asking for directions, making small talk).
• Describe your background and immediate environment in simple terms — where you live, what you do, what you need.
• Read and understand short, simple texts like signs, menus, timetables, and brief personal messages.

Key grammar at A2

At this level, you're expected to be comfortable with several core grammar areas:

• Past simple and past continuous — talking about completed actions and actions in progress in the past.
• Present perfect — connecting past events to the present (I've visited London twice).
• Basic modal verbs — expressing ability, permission, necessity, and possibility (can, must, should, have to).
• Common question forms — both simple and slightly more complex (How long have you lived here?).
• Articles and determiners — using a/an/the correctly, along with words like some, any, few, little.
• Basic conditionals — first conditional and simple uses of if and wish.

You're also expanding your vocabulary through collocations (natural word pairings like make a decision or take a break) and learning to use gerunds and infinitives with common verbs.

How A2 differs from A1 and B1

Compared to A1, A2 learners can do more than just produce isolated phrases — you can link simple sentences and participate in short conversations. Compared to B1, you're still relying on familiar contexts and predictable language; handling unexpected topics or expressing opinions in detail comes at the next level.

Self-check: If you can describe your daily routine, talk about past experiences, and handle a basic conversation at a shop or restaurant — but struggle when the topic gets abstract or unfamiliar — you're likely at A2.

Practice at this level

Try these challenges to test and strengthen your A2 skills: Is your English level A2/Pre-intermediate? Test your English CEFR Level!, Basics. Present Perfect., and Basics. Common More Complex Questions..

Difficulty: Easy

Easy difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.