All levelsGrammar#quantifiers#approximators#technical-writing#documentation
Quantifiers & Approximators
5 exercises — how to talk about quantity in IT English: choosing the right quantifier (some, all, several, each, every), using negative forms correctly, and approximating numbers in documentation.
Quantifier quick-reference
Countable nouns: several, many, a few, each, every, a number of
Uncountable nouns: much, a little, a great deal of, a bit of
Both: some, any, all, most, no, none, enough, plenty of
Negative: no, none of, neither…nor, not any (avoid double negatives!)
Approximators: roughly, about, around, approximately, up to, at least, nearly, some (formal)
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Which sentence uses the correct quantifier in a tech context?
Several is the correct choice because it refers to a specific but unspecified number (typically 3–7), works with countable nouns (tests = countable), and takes a plural verb ("are passing"). Why the others fail: "Much" (A) is for uncountable/mass nouns — use "much time", "much data", "much effort" — not for countable things like tests, requests, or files. "A few" (C) is used with plural countable nouns but the verb must also be plural: "A few tests are failing". "Most" (D) is correct in structure but "are failed" is wrong — use "have failed" (present perfect, for a completed action) or "are failing" (present continuous, for an ongoing action). Countable noun quantifiers: several, a few, a couple of, many, some, all, most, each, every. Uncountable quantifiers: much, a little, a bit of, a great deal of.
2 / 5
You are writing a bug report. Choose the sentence with the correct use of a negative quantifier.
Option C is the cleanest and most idiomatic use. Neither…nor is used to connect exactly two negative items. "Neither the GET nor the POST" correctly refers to two specific request types. Option A ("None of the requests was") — this one is also grammatically correct! "None of" can take either a singular or plural verb in modern English, but "were" is more natural for plural nouns. However, option A is slightly less precise (it implies all request types, not just two). Option B uses "handling" incorrectly — the passive voice needs "were handled" not "were handling". Option D has a double negative: "Not any…were not handled" — cancel each other out and create an affirmative meaning. Negative quantifiers in IT writing: "none of the logs", "neither the frontend nor the backend", "no records were found", "not a single request succeeded". Avoid double negatives in all technical writing.
3 / 5
A developer is writing documentation. Which sentence uses approximate quantities correctly and naturally?
Roughly is a natural approximation adverb meaning "approximately" — it is used directly before a number with no extra words between. "Roughly 20 requests per second" is correct and common in technical documentation. Option A adds "some" after "approximately" — you can use either "approximately 20" or "some 20" (where "some" is a formal approximator meaning "about"), but not both. "Some" as a number approximator is more formal/British: "The deployment took some 10 minutes." Option B uses "rough" (adjective) instead of "roughly" (adverb) — adjectives cannot modify numbers. Option D adds "of" after "about" which is incorrect — say "about 500 MB", not "about of 500 MB". Common approximators in tech documentation: roughly, approximately, about, around, nearly, up to, at least, over, some (formal). Examples: "up to 99.9% uptime", "at least 3 retries", "over 1,000 active users", "nearly 400 ms latency".
4 / 5
Which sentence uses all, whole, every, each correctly?
Each is correct. "Each microservice must register" — "each" is used with a singular countable noun and takes a singular verb. It emphasises individual items in a group: each one, separately. Why the others fail: "Every the" (A) is never correct — "every" is not used with an article. Say: "Every microservice must…" (no "the"). "All of" (B) requires "the": "All of the microservices must…" OR drop "of": "All microservices must…". "Whole" (D) means "the complete, undivided thing" — it is not used to mean "all members of a group". Use: "the whole system crashed", "the whole team joined the meeting". Summary — choosing between all/whole/every/each: All — the total group; Whole — one complete unit; Every — each one in a group (but uses singular noun); Each — individual members, often with focus on differences. Tech examples: "Each endpoint returns JSON." / "Every test case must have an assertion." / "All services share the same base image."
5 / 5
Fill in the blank with the correct quantifier: "We deployed to _____ 50 servers simultaneously during the rolling update."
Around is the correct approximator here. "Around 50 servers" = approximately 50 servers — natural, concise, and common in both spoken and written technical communication. "Approximately around" (A) is redundant — "approximately" and "around" mean the same thing; using both is a double approximator and should be avoided. "Much" (C) is for uncountable nouns: "much bandwidth", "much latency", "much effort" — NOT for countable items like servers. "A little" (D) is for small uncountable amounts: "a little overhead", "a little lag" — again, not for countable nouns. Practice: "rolled out to about 30 users", "affected nearly all customers", "responded within around 200ms", "at least 5 replicas", "up to 10 concurrent connections".