Determiners and qualifiers are the words that come before a noun.

Some books
A lot of books
Either the man or the woman

Certain words can be used with a countable noun and other words must be chosen when using a noncount noun. A few words can be used with either countable or noncount nouns.

The following words can be used with both countable and noncountable nouns:

Some – Some of the books
     Some of the software

A lot of – A lot of the books
     A lot of the software

Most of the – Most of the books
     Most of the software

All of the – All of the books
     All of the software

None of the – None of the books
     None of the software

Enough – Enough of the books
     Enough of the software

Hardly any – Hardly any of the books
     Hardly any of the software

The – The books
     The software

The following words can be used with countable nouns:

Some – I have some books.
A lot of – I have a lot of books.
Any – I don’t have any books.
Hardly any – I have hardly any books left after the sale.
Many – I have many books.
A – I have a book.
Both – I have both books.
Two (or any numbers) – I have two books.
Several – I have several books.
A couple of- I have a couple of books.
A few – I have a few books. (means some books)
Few – I have few books. (emphasizes is not having very many)
These – I have these books for you to sell.
A number of – I have a number of good books.
Enough – I have enough books for now.
Every – Every book in the collection is damaged.
Each – Each book is carefully packed.

The following words can be used with noncount nouns:

Much – I put too much sugar in my coffee.
A lot of – I have a lot of sugar.
Some – I have some sugar.
Hardly any – I have hardly any sugar
(no article) – I have sugar
the – I have the sugar that I brought back from the store.
This – This sugar is full of bugs.
Any – I don’t have any sugar in the house.
A little – I have a little sugar left in the bottom of the bowl.
Enough – I have enough sugar left for tonight’s dessert.

You cannot use the following words with noncount nouns:

Many
A
Both
Two (or any numbers)
Several
A couple of
A few
Few
These
A number of
Every
Each

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Continue to Practice 2: Agreement with Determiners.

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