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Grammar and Linguistics > As many...as / As few ...as /As a great deal of as
As many...as / As few ...as /As a great deal of as
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goodnesses
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As many...as / As few ...as /As a great deal of as
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Hi, guys.
Today I come to you with this confusing grammatical issue through a very simple question.
Are these sentences correct? Please would you help with as precise explanation as possible.
1-They have as many children as we have.
2-Algeria has as few World Heritage sites as Morocco.
3-They did as a great deal of the work as we did.
4-He has as little money as she has.
Thank in advance for your valuaas asble feedback.
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8 Nov 2008
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Tere-arg
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Hi,
1-They have as many children as we have.
2-Algeria has as few World Heritage sites as Morocco.
many and few are always used with Countable nouns (=nouns which can be counted: pens, doors, animals, etc)
3-They did as a great deal of the work as we did.
4-He has as little money as she has.
while a great deal of and little are used with Uncountable nouns (= cannot be counted and are always singular: meat, milk, desire, hope, luck, etc)
Have a good time! 
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8 Nov 2008
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goodnesses
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But my problem is with the meaning of the sentence in the whole, and with the use of such quantifiers in a "as ... as" comparison.
Not with which ones are to be used with count nouns an which with uncount nouns.
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8 Nov 2008
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Damielle
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What a good question!
I couldn�t find any information in the books I have here. I think that I have to do some research on the topic to give you a sound answer. But just analizing your examples I can see the following:
1- as many children as
2- as few World Heritage sites as
3- as a great deal of the work as
4- as little money as
All the expressions in green are noun phrases made up of the nucleous nouns (children, sites, work,money) and their pre modifiers. In the pre modification there are quantifiers (many,few,a great deal of, little). So, considering structure, I think that all of them are similar. |
9 Nov 2008
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Zora
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The third one sounds wrong, can�t place my finger on why yet... it�s too early in the morning BUT I think it should be,
We did a great deal of work, compared to them OR We did a great deal more/less work than they did.
I think the problem here is the word "great" together with the word "deal" but as I said, I can�t figure the why of it... the grammar escapes me right now. I am on mental overload, I think - sorry goodnesses, I know you like the reason why behind things...
All I can add is that,
"We were as great as they were..." is correct BUT "He is as great helper as me" not, it should be... "He is as a great of a helper as me..."
So, taking that rule, maybe perhaps the sentence should be:
"They did as a great a deal of the work as we did."
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10 Nov 2008
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freddie
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Hello. A little late but the third one is definitely wrong.
As....as is used to say that one noun has the same number (countable) / amount (uncountable) as the other noun and we only use as many as, as much as, as few as and as little as in this structure...we don�t use alot of, some of etc. in this structure.
Jo has 6 children and Mary has 6 children. Jo has as many children as Mary.
Or Jo has little money and Mary has little money. They are equally poor. Jo has as little money as Mary.
3 should be Jo did alot of the work and Mary did alot of the work so Jo did as much of the work as Mary did.
And sorry but I don�t agree that it is correct to say "They did as great a deal of the work as we did."
Hope this helps |
18 Nov 2008
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