quantifiers

Romeo and Juliet “Which then most sought where most might not be found”

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In the following excerpt from Romeo and Juliet, what do the words “which” and “most” refer to? Does the relative clause have a main verb at all? “I, measuring his affections by my own, which then most sought where most might not be found, being one too many by my weary self, pursued my humor … Read more

“He’s good police”

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I’m fifteen years late, but I’ve been watching The Wire, recently. In it, I noticed a particularly jarring use of the word “police” as a mass noun with finite subject. I’m a British English speaker and, to me, these are ungrammatical: He’s good police. You shot police. The second sentence is grammatical for me if … Read more

“All green apples but 1” or “All but 1 green apples”

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I would like to use phrase "all but one" in the sentence like "Except for the one green apple, all the other green apples are bad." Which expression is not ambiguous? "All but one green apples are bad." or "All green apples but one are bad." Does "All but one green apples are bad." means … Read more

“doesn’t it”/“don’t they” with “every” as a determiner

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Which of the two is correct: “Every cell phone does that, doesn’t it?” or “Every cell phone does that, don’t they?” Answer Every cell phone does that, doesn’t it? or Every cell phone does that, don’t they? “Every” is a distributive determiner as reflected in the fact that it selects a singular ‘head’, hence “Every … Read more

Can you say “a lot of dog” as a meaning of “much dog”?

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When you read the sentences below, is it possible to change the phrase “much dog” into “a lot of dog”? He (a dog) needed grooming. I didn’t think there was very much dog inside all that fur, but he had bright attentive eyes. Answer That change of phrase is perfectly acceptable but more informal. Much … Read more

“Round up to the nearest tertile value” wording question?

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If I wanted to tell someone to round up to the nearest 1/4 value (e.g. 4.78 would become to 5.0), I would say: Round up to the nearest quarter value. Now, if I want to express rounding up to the nearest 1/3 value (e.g. 5.45 would become 5.6666667), would I say: Round up to the … Read more

Does “much of a (countable noun)” mean the same as “much (countable noun)?”

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(a): The countries did not have much of a choice when it came to vaccines. (b): The countries did not have much choice when it came to vaccines. Are the sentences above semantically identical? Are there any differences between them? Which one is more natural? I am particularly curious about whether these two expressions–much of … Read more

The multiple meanings of “any” in different circumstances

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I am confused about the different usages of the word (any* depending on the particular circumstance, and would appreciate some clarification. For instance, if I make the statement I have more chocolate than any of you. I would be implying that I have more chocolate than each and every one of you. However, if I … Read more