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Improve your English skills with 6 Minute English from the BBC.
We discuss the vocabulary of different topics.
We're talking about politeness.
The immune system.
Giving you useful idioms.
This and that describes various unspecified things.
And some funky phrases.
It's not every day that highlights what's happened is very unusual.
6 Minute English from the BBC.
Find all episodes at bbclearningenglish.com.
I do have a record collection.
So I only had a few records.
But when I got married, we asked for records for presents.
So now we have loads of records.
My daughter doesn't really collect things.
She has a few little animal figures, but not many, just a few.
Hello and welcome to Learning English Grammar.
I'm Neil.
And I'm Beth.
We've just heard some people talking about collections – that's groups of things they own that are similar.
You might have a collection of comic books or fridge magnets.
And that's what this episode is all about – our possessions, things we own.
We'll learn different ways to talk about quantity, like loads of, a lot of and a few.
And we'll learn how to change these to make them stronger or weaker.
For example, loads and loads of.
You can read along with this podcast using the transcripts on our website.
Go to bbclearningenglish.com.
So Neil, do you have any collections of things?
Not really collections, but I do have a few guitars.
Ooh, how many?
I've got three.
Oh yeah, OK, yeah, OK.
And how about you?
I don't think I have any collections of anything, although I do have quite a lot of T-shirts from travelling.
If I go somewhere new, then I like to collect a T-shirt.
Me too.
OK, I've been speaking to Pippa and Phil about what they own.
You might remember that Pippa has a record collection – that's music on a black vinyl disc – and Phil's daughter has a few animal figures – that's small statues of animals.
We also asked them about what they have in their houses.
Let's listen to what they say about possessions and collections they have or people in their family have, and pay attention to the kind of language they use to describe the quantities of things they own.
I do own quite a lot of stuff.
I've got quite a lot of clothes and quite a lot of stuff in my kitchen.
I try not to have too much stuff though, so I don't have that much furniture.
I have a lot of books, though.
I've got quite a lot of stuff, but I wish I had a little bit less.
I don't think I own a lot of stuff, but other people might think I do.
I have loads and loads of books that I very rarely read, so I should probably get rid of them all.
There's not a lot of space in our house for stuff.
My son is obsessed with frogs and he has loads of things that are frogs or look like frogs, or books about frogs, or have absolutely loads of them.
But he's also started getting interested in little rubber ducks.
He has a few of those.
Not many so far, just a few.
But he does have some.
So you may have heard a lot of...
Pippa said she has a lot of books.
This means she has a large number.
And Phil said he has loads of books.
Loads of means a very large number and an even larger number than a lot of.
Yes, I also heard some smaller quantities used in there, like a few and not many.
Here to explain more is Georgie, our resident grammar guru.
Hi guys, I've come to help our listeners with some grammar we use for talking about quantities.
Yes, why don't we start with loads of, which is a very big quantity or amount.
OK, we heard Pippa say she has loads of records because she was given a lot for her wedding.
Record is a countable noun.
That's things you can count.
One record, two records.
But we can also use loads of with uncountable nouns, like stuff.
For example, I have loads of stuff in my house.
OK, and we often make loads of even bigger, don't we?
That's right.
Phil said his son loves things related to frogs and he has absolutely loads of them.
Phil also said he has loads and loads of books.
Both absolutely and the repetition loads, and loads are used to really emphasise how large the quantity is.
Great.
And we heard a few.
What can you tell us about that?
Right.
A few means a small quantity.
Phil's daughter has a few little animal figures.
He then adds not that many to further show it's a small number.
Just like loads of, we can add words to emphasise the quantity.
In this case, a small quantity.
So Pippa said she had only a few records before her wedding and Phil said his son has just a few rubber ducks –.
We add just and only before a few to emphasise the small quantity.
Right.
And we had a lot of as well.
So again, a lot of means a large quantity, but it isn't as strong as loads of.
Again, we can modify a lot of with other words.
I've got quite a lot of clothes.
And to show the negative, we add not.
There's not a lot of space in our house for stuff.
We also heard Pippa say, I don't have that much furniture.
Can you explain what the word that means in this sentence?
Good question.
Well, we know much.
We use much before uncountable nouns, usually in the negative, like I don't have that much furniture.
And that emphasises the amount.
So not that much really stresses you mean not loads, but some.
And that takes us to our last point, because Phil used the word some.
He said his son doesn't have many rubber ducks, but he does have some.
Georgie, isn't some normally used before nouns?
It can be, so we could add the noun and say he has some rubber ducks.
Here though, Phil removes the object to avoid repeating himself.
We know what he's talking about, rubber ducks, so we don't need to repeat the noun.
Well, I think we've learned absolutely loads of grammar there.
Thanks, Georgie.
No problem.
Bye.
OK, now it's time for a game so you can test what you've learnt in this podcast.
So Neil, we are going to ask each other some questions and then we're going to leave a gap so that you can decide which words for quantities fit best.
Let's start.
So, Neil, how many books do you have?
I have 730 books –
And I know because my daughter counted them.
Wow.
OK, so we can say you have... Absolutely loads of books.
Now, Beth, you told me that you have one egg, a piece of cheese and some juice in your fridge.
That's true.
I really need to go shopping.
So Beth has...
Only a few things in her fridge.
And Neil, earlier you told me that you have a pear tree in your garden and there are ten pears on the tree at the moment.
That's absolutely true.
So my pear tree has some pears on it.
So you don't have loads of pears, but ten is quite a good number.
We want to hear about your collections.
Email us at learningenglish at bbc.co.uk.
That's it for this episode.
I've learnt that you have absolutely loads and loads of books in your house.
And I've learnt that you really need to go shopping, Beth.
I do.
We'll be back next week to learn some more grammar tips.
In the meantime, you can test what you've learnt in this episode with the worksheets on our website, bbclearningenglishcom.
Goodbye for now.
Goodbye.
At the BBC, we go further so you see clearer.
Through frontline reporting, global stories and local insights, we bring you closer to the world's news as it happens.
And it starts with a subscription to BBCcom, giving you unlimited articles and videos, ad-free podcasts and the BBC News Channel streaming live 24-7.
Subscribe to trusted independent journalism from the BBC.
Find out more at bbc.com slash join.
