Q&A - P2 English

[ohdaddy]

I thought it is either "much" or "a lot of". Both seem OK to me although if I had to pick one, I would use "much" (for practical reasons, faster to type and shorter to say).

[jeparent]

ohdaddy:

I thought it is either \"much\" or \"a lot of\". Both seem OK to me although if I had to pick one, I would use \"much\" (for practical reasons, faster to type and shorter to say).

The \"model\" answer in the assessment is any.

[ridcully]

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)

May I have a try at this?


If it is a P1 question, then I think the answer should be 'much'. Children in P1 are introduced to countable and uncountable nouns and the respective quantifiers of 'many' and 'much'. 'Not much food' means some food is left on the table.

As a general rule, we use 'a lot of' in positive sentences. The sentence, however, is a negative one, so I would be tempted to eliminate 'a lot of'. Nevertheless, 'not a lot of food' means some food is left on the table.

'Any' has a different meaning to the other two: 'not any' means 'no'. This means that there is no food left on the table. Normally, we would say:
There isn't any food left on the table.

If you are not using a contraction, you would normally write:
There is no food left on the table.

Rgds
R

[nms1]

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

All three are grammatically correct. They should not be setting questions like this as the teacher should not be able to mark any answer wrong!

If I had to choose I would have chosen \"much\". \"A lot of\" would have been my last choice as it is quite colloquial but still correct.

[janet88]

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

I did encounter this question in one of daughter's assessment book.
The instruction given is to choose between 'many' or 'much' as child is taught countable and uncountable. So the answer is 'much'.

[jeparent]

janet_lee88:

jeparent:

There is not ___________ food left on the table. (much,a lot of,any)


Perhaps all three are correct as well.

I did encounter this question in one of daughter's assessment book.
The instruction given is to choose between 'many' or 'much' as child is taught countable and uncountable. So the answer is 'much'.

Actually this is a multiple-choice qn with 4 choices. I left out many because it goes with countable.

\"Much\" seems a popular choice , but how about looking from it being used as a question ?

Is there any food left on the table ?
Is there a lot of food left on the table ?
Is there much food left on the table ?

Interesting...

[ridcully]

jeparent:

\"Much\" seems a popular choice , but how about looking from it being used as a question ?


Is there any food left on the table ?
Is there a lot of food left on the table ?
Is there much food left on the table ?

We generally use both 'any' and 'much' for questions and negative sentences; we generally use 'a lot of' in positive sentences.

The use of 'a lot of' in questions and negative sentences is informal English.

Rgds
R

[tankee]

need help to explain these:


having small ears helps <<< why is it helps and not help >>>

a lot of warmth escapes <<< why is it escapes and not escape >>>

:oops:

[zeemimi]

tankee:

need help to explain these:


having small ears helps <<< why is it helps and not help >>>

a lot of warmth escapes <<< why is it escapes and not escape >>>

:oops:

the \"helps\" is related to the singular act of \"having small ears\". it is not dependent on the ears. So for e.g. \"having big nose helps\" too. :rotflmao:

warmth is singular.

[tankee]

Thanks zeemimi.