首先要搞清楚,是修飾可數(shù)名詞或不可數(shù)名詞,而不是單數(shù)或復(fù)數(shù)名詞.可數(shù)名詞都有復(fù)數(shù)形式,而不可數(shù)名詞沒有復(fù)數(shù)形式.
a large deal of、a plenty of和a good supply of 在多數(shù)情況下修飾不可數(shù)名詞,如：a plenty of water,a geat deal of time,不過(guò)它們也可以修飾可數(shù)名詞,如a plenty of men.
a quantity of在多數(shù)情況下修飾可數(shù)名詞,如a quantity of boxes,不過(guò)也可修飾不可數(shù)名詞,如a quantity of milk.
quantities of與上述的一樣
一、只能修飾可數(shù)名詞的詞語(yǔ)有:
many,many a(n),a good / great many,a (great / large) number of,scores of,dozens of等.例如:
Scores of people went there in the first few days after its opening.
開張后的頭幾天,很多人去了那兒.
I have been there dozens of times.
我已去過(guò)那兒很多次了.
There’re a number of students reading English in the classroom.
教室里有許多學(xué)生在讀英語(yǔ).
Many a student has(=many students have)visited the Great Wall.(謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞用單數(shù))
很多學(xué)生都游覽過(guò)長(zhǎng)城.
In winter,a good many animals sleep under the snow.
冬天很多動(dòng)物在雪下冬眠.
注意:many所修飾的復(fù)數(shù)名詞前若有限定詞,many 后面要接of,表示“……中的很多”.例如:
A great many(of the) graduates have found jobs.
畢業(yè)生中很多人已經(jīng)找到了工作.
二、只能修飾不可數(shù)名詞的詞語(yǔ)有:
much,a great deal of,a great / large amount of等.例如:
Is there much water in the bucket?
桶里有很多水嗎?
He always has a great amount of work to do.
他總是有很多工作要做.
三、既能修飾可數(shù)名詞又能修飾不可數(shù)名詞的詞語(yǔ)有:
a lot of,lots of,plenty of (以上三個(gè)詞語(yǔ)后謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞的數(shù)依of 后的名詞的單復(fù)數(shù)而定),a great / large quantity of (其后謂語(yǔ)用單數(shù)),quantities of (其后謂語(yǔ)用復(fù)數(shù)).例如:
There is still lots of snow in the garden.
花園里還有許多雪.
There is plenty of rain here.
這兒的雨水很多.
A great quantity of flowers was placed in the hall.
大廳里放了很多鮮花.
There are large quantities of food in the cupboard.
櫥柜里有許多食物.
在所有這些表示“很多”的詞語(yǔ)中many,much 是最常用的詞,它們既可以用于肯定句,也可以用于疑問(wèn)句和否定句.例如:
Are there many people in the street?
街上有很多人嗎?
There isn’t much time left.
剩下的時(shí)間不多了.
其它的詞語(yǔ)都用于肯定句,日常會(huì)話中常用lots of,a lot of 或plenty of; 正式文體中常用 a great many,a (large) number of,a great deal of,scores of 或 dozens of 等.但若肯定句中有too,so,as,very或how 等詞修飾時(shí),則必須使用 many,much.例如:
The number of the people who lost their homes reached as many as 250,000.
無(wú)家可歸的人數(shù)多達(dá)250,000人.
There is too much work to do.
要做的工作太多了.