中学英语教材中先后出现了十个表示“许多、大量、大批、非常多”之类意思的短语，它们的用法不尽相同。现分别列举如下，供读者复习参考。
一、lots of（a lot of）后接可数或不可数名词。例如：
1．My parents spend a lot of their spare time on English study．
2．Mike had collected lots of Chinese stamps when he studied in China．
二、a great（good deal of）后接不可数名词。例如：
A great deal of information can be stored in computers．
三、plenty of后接可数或不可数名词。例如：
1．We have plenty of books to read．
2．There is plenty of water in apple．
（注：plenty of一般只用于肯定句，在疑问句中常改用 enough；在否定句中常改用 many或 much。另外， plenty of短语作主语时，谓语动词的数由它后面的名词的数而定。）
四、a group of后接可数名词的复数。例如：
A group of wounded soldiers were saved by Dr Bethune．
五、 most of后接可数或不可数名词。例如：
1．Most of his money is spent on books．
2．Most of the students in our class are fond of sports．
六、a（great/large/good）number of后接可数名词的复数。例如：
1．There are a number of professors in our college．
2．A great（large／good） number of new machines have been sent to the coun-tryside．
七、a great many后接可数名词的复数。例如：
There are a great many books in our school library．
八、 a large amount of 后接不可数名词。例如：
They are going to spend a large amount of time on the research work．
九、scores of后接可数名词的复数。例如：
Scores of dustmen took part in the strike．
十、 a large quantity of后接可数或不可数名词。例如：
1．A large quantity of books have been translated into foreign languages．
2．There is a large quantity of coal in the coal－mine
