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Plenty

Plenty as a pronoun​

We use plenty as a pronoun to mean ‘enough’ or ‘more than enough’:

  • A: How much money do you think I need to bring with me?
  • B: About one hundred pounds should be plenty.
  • [A is pouring milk into B’s coffee]
  • A: Is that enough?
  • B: That’s plenty. Thanks.

Plenty of as a quantifier​

We use plenty of as a quantifier before both countable and uncountable nouns to mean ‘a lot’, ‘a large quantity’:

  • Don’t worry there are plenty of options.
  • [risotto is an Italian rice dish]
  • A: What shall we have for dinner?
  • B: Well, we’ve got plenty of rice. How about risotto?
  • Plenty of people have dropped out of school early and have still been very successful in their careers.

Plenty: typical errors​

Take care to spell plenty correctly: not ‘planty’.

We use plenty of before nouns:

  • There’s no rush. We’ve got plenty of time.
  • Not: We’ve got plenty time.
See also
  • Lots, a lot, plenty
  • Many