VOA名师答疑2023 a lot和lot的用法

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Mohamed about “a lot” and “lot.”

大家好! 本周《名师答疑》，我们回答穆罕默德提出的关于a lot和lot的问题。

Please explain the difference between ''lot'' and ''a lot''.

请解释一下lot和a lot的区别。

I'm usually confused when I have to choose among them.

我经常弄不清应该用哪一个。

Mohamed

穆罕默德

Dear Mohamed, thank you for making a comment on our website!

亲爱的穆罕默德，感谢在网站上发表评论！

Firstly, let us look at the noun¹ “lot”.

首先，让我们来看一下名词lot。

By itself, “lot” can refer to a set or group of things that can be counted.

单就这个词来说，lot可以指一组数得清的东西。

Here is an example:

这里有一个例句：

The company shipped 1000 lots of the vaccine² yesterday.

公司昨天发运了一批1000支的疫苗。

We can also use “a lot” as an adverb.

我们也可以把a lot用作副词。

Like other adverbs, it affects the verb in a statement.

和其他副词一样，它限定句子中的动词。

This use of “a lot” can mean “often” or “to a greater degree.”

a lot的这种用法可以表示“经常”或“在更大程度上”。

Compare these examples:

比较一下这几个例句：

I go to Indonesian restaurants a lot.

我经常去印尼餐馆。

In the above example, “a lot” talks about the number of times I go to Indonesian restaurants.

在上面的例句中，a lot指的是我去印尼餐馆的次数。

Their noodles are a lot spicier³ than other restaurants.

他们的面条比其他餐馆的辣多了。

In this example, the noodles have a greater degree of taste compared to noodles elsewhere⁴.

在这个例句中，这里的面条的味道比其他地方的更重。

And finally, we have “a lot of” and “lots of.”

最后，还有a lot of和lots of。

Both include the preposition⁵ “of”, and we use them as quantifiers.

两者都包括介词of，我们把它们用作量词。

We use them to refer to a quantity of something without being exact.

我们用它们来指代某种东西的大概数量。

These expressions can be used in the same way and there is no difference in meaning, though “lots of” might be considered by some to be more informal.

这两个短语用法相同，意思也没有区别，有些人可能会认为lots of没有那么正式。

Note that in these examples “a lot of” and “lots of” come before noncount nouns⁶.

请注意，在以下这些例句中，a lot of和lots of用于不可数名词之前。

They are referring to the same thing.

它们的意思相同。

In the summer you should drink a lot of water.

夏天你应该多喝水。

Doctors advise us to drink lots of water.

医生建议我们多喝水。

I hope this helps you in using these expressions, Mohamed!

希望这能帮助你学会使用这些表达，穆罕默德！

And that’s Ask a Teacher. I’m Faith Pirlo.

以上就是本期《名师答疑》，我是费思·皮尔洛。

1 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

2 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

3 spicier   

adj.用香料调味的( spicy的比较级 )；有香料味的；有刺激性的；（故事、新闻等） 刺激的

参考例句：

• She added some green chili peppers to her cheese dip to make spicier. 她在起司沾酱中加了一些青辣椒让它辛辣一点。 来自互联网

4 elsewhere   

adv.在别处，到别处

参考例句：

• Our favourite restaurant was full so we had to go elsewhere.我们最喜欢去的那家饭店客满了，因此不得不改去别处。
• I have half a mind to move elsewhere.我有点想搬到别处去。

5 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

6 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》