Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Comparing Quantities

You can compare quantities in different ways, depending on the type of noun you are referring to.

Have you heard of countable and uncountable nouns?

When talking about uncountable nouns; such as time, coffee, rice, milk and love; you would need to use more than and less than.

Take a look at the following examples:

There is less chocolate ice cream in my bowl than in Julian’s bowl.

My father enjoys eating rice more than vegetable soup.

If you’re talking about countable nouns, like pencils, cars, movies and games, you would use more than and fewer than to make comparisons of quantity.

Examples:

When I was 10 years old, I had more toy cars than Andrew had.

Mary has fewer pencils than Jane.

When two uncountable nouns share the same quantity, use as much as and as little as.

As for countable nouns, use as many as and as few as.

Examples:

John is taking as many courses this scholastic year as he did last year.

I love chocolate as much as I hate vegetables.

I used as little money as my boyfriend did, but he bought much more than I did!

There are as few musicians in the park as there were last time we visited.

Lesson by Krista

Questions and Answers:

• 1. I find ___ time to read on Sunday afternoon ___ I do during the rest of the week.
  
  More than
  Fewer than
  
  
• 2. There is ___ milk in your tea ___ in my coffee.
  
  As few as
  Less than
  As many as
  
  
• 3. Chris enjoys listening to music ___ he enjoys playing football.
  
  As much as
  As few as
  As little as
  
  
• 4. We visited two zoos last week. There are ___ African goats at the first zoo ___ at the second zoo.
  
  Fewer than
  Less than
  
  
• 5. Joanna owns ___ handbags ___ she owns shoes.
  
  As much as
  As many as
  As little as
  
  
• 6. I love you ___ I love clothes shopping!
  
  As much as
  As little as
  As few as
  
  
• 7. She eats ___ junk food___ I do, but I still weigh more than she does!
  
  As many as
  As little as
  As much as
  
  
• 8. There were ___ shop assistants at the supermarket ___ there were yesterday afternoon.
  
  As few as
  As little as
  As much as