Sentence:  When these groups were first formed <WSD>many</WSD> prominent and accomplished decorators could not have had the advantage of school training since interior design courses were rare and undeveloped during their youth . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by `as' or `too' or `so' or `that'; amounting to a large but indefinite number