quantity的含義及用法

　　quantity：英 [?kw?nt?ti] 美 [?kwɑ:nt?ti]

　　n.量，數(shù)量; 定量，大批; 數(shù)目; [語音學(xué)、韻律學(xué)] (指元音或音節(jié)的長短) 音量;

　　[例句]He had quantity and quality!

　　他既有數(shù)量,又有數(shù)量!

　　a large quantity of 和large quantities of的用法區(qū)別

　　quantities of無論修飾可數(shù)還是不可數(shù)名詞、謂語動詞都用復(fù)數(shù).

　　例如:

　　Quantities of food (nuts) were on the table.桌子上有許多食品(堅果).

　　a quantity of+可數(shù)名詞復(fù)數(shù)、謂語動詞用復(fù)數(shù);+不可數(shù)名詞、謂語動詞用單數(shù).即修飾可數(shù)或不可數(shù)名詞均可,作主語時采取就近一致的原則,其謂語動詞通常與短語中of后面的名詞的數(shù)保持一致.

　　例如:

　　A large quantity of beer was sold out.大量的啤酒被售出.

　　A large quantity of blouses were on sale.大量罩衫有售.

　　an amount of, a number of和a quantity of之間的用法有何不同?

　　1. A large amount of chickens were infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu.

　　2. A large number of chickens were infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu.

　　3. A large quantity of chickens were infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu. (山東濟寧 王 慧)

　　【答】 上面三句只有第2句講得通，第1句和第3句都是錯誤的。請看下面的說明：

　　an amount of通常與不可數(shù)、無生命的名詞連用。如：

　　She spent a very large amount of money yesterday. 她昨天花了好大一筆錢。

　　a number of與可數(shù)、有生命或無生命的名詞連用。如：

　　The president has made a large number of mistakes. 總統(tǒng)已犯了許多錯誤。

　　a quantity of通常與可數(shù)或不可數(shù)、無生命的名詞連用。如：

　　A vast / large quantity of imported beer has been sold. 已經(jīng)售出了大量的進口啤酒。

　　再者，從上面的例句可知，amount, number和quantity的前面經(jīng)常使用vast, large, small 等表示數(shù)量大小的形容詞來修飾，而這些形容詞前面有時還會使用very等程度副詞來修飾。不過，要特別注意的是，在這些用法中，large不可用big 來替代。