Adjectives that tell how many interactive worksheet - Free Printable

Let’s go through each sentence one by one. We’re looking for the adjective that tells how many — that means, which word before the underlined noun is telling us *how many* of that thing there are.

Remember: The adjective comes before the noun it describes and answers “How many?”

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1. There are two paths along the river.
→ Underlined noun: *paths*
→ What tells how many? → two

2. My dad hikes to the river with four friends.
→ Underlined noun: *friends*
→ What tells how many? → four

3. They bring five bags to collect trash.
→ Underlined noun: *bags*
→ What tells how many? → five

4. My dad picks up many cans.
→ Underlined noun: *cans*
→ What tells how many? → many (yes, “many” is an adjective that tells quantity!)

5. Soon two bags are filled with trash.
→ Underlined noun: *bags*
→ What tells how many? → two

6. Then they see several cans in the shallow river.
→ Underlined noun: *cans*
→ What tells how many? → several

7. Three men have boots and wade into the water.
→ Underlined noun: *men*
→ What tells how many? → three

8. They use a net and pull seventeen cans out of the river.
→ Underlined noun: *cans*
→ What tells how many? → seventeen

9. A few more pieces of trash are under the bench.
→ Wait — here, the underlined noun is *pieces*. But what adjective tells how many? Look at the words before it: “A few more”.
Actually, “a few” is the phrase that tells how many. But since we need just the adjective, and “few” is the key word meaning “not many”, but note: the instruction says “write the adjective that tells about the underlined noun.” In this case, “more” is also an adjective modifying “pieces”, but “a few” together act as a quantifier. However, in grammar lessons like this, “a few” is often treated as a unit. But let’s look again — the sentence says “A few more pieces...” — actually, “more” is comparing, not giving exact number. Hmm. Let’s think: the main quantity word here is “few” — because “a few” = some small number. So the adjective telling how many is few. (Sometimes “a few” is considered a determiner phrase, but for Grade 3 level, they likely expect “few” or maybe even “a few”. But since blank is single line, probably just “few”. Actually, wait — re-read: “A few more pieces” — “more” is also an adjective, but it doesn’t tell total amount, it tells additional. The real “how many” is “a few”. Since the worksheet expects one word, and “few” is the core adjective, I’ll go with few. Alternatively, if they consider “a few” as two words, but the blank is one line… Let me check other examples — all others are single numbers or words like “many”, “several”. So “few” fits.)

But hold on — let’s double-check: in sentence 9, the underlined noun is “pieces”. The words before it are “A few more”. Which one is the adjective telling how many? Actually, “few” is the adjective meaning “a small number”. “More” is comparative. So best answer is few.

Wait — another thought: sometimes “a few” is taught as a fixed phrase. But since the blank is one line, and other answers are single words, I think few is acceptable. Or perhaps the teacher expects “a few”? But no — looking at format, all blanks are for one word. So I’ll put few.

Actually, let’s look at sentence 10 too.

10. Their walk home is about one mile.
→ Underlined noun: *mile*
→ What tells how many? → one

Back to #9: “A few more pieces” — if we must pick one word that tells how many, it’s tricky. But “few” is the adjective indicating quantity. “More” modifies it. So yes, few.

Alternatively, maybe the intended answer is “a few” — but since it’s two words and the blank is one line, perhaps not. Let me see if any other sentence has multi-word adjectives — none do. All are single words: two, four, five, many, several, three, seventeen, one. So for consistency, #9 should be few.

Actually — wait! Re-reading sentence 9: “A few more pieces of trash...” — the word “more” might be the adjective here? No, “more” means additional, not total count. The total implied is “a few”. I think safest is few.

But let me confirm with standard grammar: “few” is an adjective meaning “not many”. Yes. So I’ll go with few.

Final list:

1. two
2. four
3. five
4. many
5. two
6. several
7. three
8. seventeen
9. few
10. one

Wait — for #9, is “a few” considered? In some curricula, they might accept “a few”, but since the blank is one line, and others are single words, I think “few” is fine. Alternatively, maybe the underlined part is “pieces”, and the adjective directly before it is “more”? But “more” doesn’t tell how many — it tells comparison. The actual quantity is “a few”. I think the intended answer is few.

Actually, let’s think differently: in sentence 9, the phrase is “A few more pieces” — perhaps the adjective is “more”? But that doesn’t make sense because “more” isn’t answering “how many?” — it’s answering “how much extra?”. The real “how many” is “a few”. Since “a” is an article, and “few” is the adjective, I believe few is correct.

I’ll proceed with that.

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Final Answer:
1. two
2. four
3. five
4. many
5. two
6. several
7. three
8. seventeen
9. few
10. one