Red Level

Lesson Ten

a lot / some / any

These words are used with

a lot of = many or much There is a lot of traffic on one side of the street. There are a lot of cars on one side of the street. A lot of traffic = many cars
not a lot of = not many or not much There isn’t a lot of traffic on the other side. There are some cars but not very many. (some = a relatively small amount but “some” is not easy to quantify or equate to a particular number.)
There were a lot of people at the beach yesterday.
There aren’t a lot of people at the beach today. There aren’t many people at the beach today. There are some but not many.
Use “any” with negatives and questions. There isn’t any traffic in the street. There aren’t any cars. (not any = 0) Do you see any people?

Watch this video: some / any

A lot, some, and any are used with indefinite amounts:

Example:

Q: How many students are there in the classroom:

A: There are a lot. (This is a large number). Or….

A: There are some students. (This is a small number but the number is not known.) Or….

A: There aren’t any students. (This is zero or a very, very small number and the number is not known.)

Click here to take a quiz.