Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[mdopico]

when i have to use some/many/a/an/much/any?

[TutorValerie]

Hello,

Let's break these up into groups.


"Some" and "any" - "Any" is used in questions and negative answers, and "some" is used in positive answers. For example:

"Do you have any pencils?"

"Yes, I have some (pencils)."
OR
"No, I don't have any (pencils)."


"A" and "an" are indefinite articles that we use to indicate ONE of something, but not a specific one. "A" is used before a noun (or adjective) that begins with a consonant, whereas "an" is used before a noun (or an adjective) that begins with a vowel. T Some examples:

-a football
-a book
-a shirt
-a red apple
-an apple
-an elephant
-an old man


"Many" is used with countable nouns, while "much" is used with uncountable nouns. For example:

"I have many books. (Notice that we have the plural form of "book".)

"I have much money. (We don't say "monies" here - we know this sentence means that we have many bills and coins.)


I hope this helps anyone who needs it![/list]
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