GRAMMAR
Much, many and a lot.
Much, many, a lot:
"Much", "many", and "a lot of" indicate a large quantity of something, for example "I have a lot of friends " means I have a large quantity of friends.
Much, many, and a lot are quantifiers.
Study the examples below:
How much money have you got? | I haven't got much money. |
I have got a lot. | |
I have got a lot of money. | |
How many students are in the classroom? | There aren't many. |
There are a lot. | |
There are a lot of/lots of students. |
In the interrogative forms we use:
- much with uncountable nouns. (money, bread, water...)
Example:
How much money/bread/water...is there? - many with countable nouns. (students, desks, windows...)
Example:
How many students/teachers/desks... are there?
(See the lesson on countable and countable nouns )
In the negative forms we use:
- much with uncountable nouns. (money, bread, water...)
Example:
I haven't got much money/bread/water... - many with countable nouns. (students, desks, windows...)
Example:
There aren't many students/teachers/desks...
In the affirmative forms:
In spoken English and informal writing we tend to use:
- a lot, a lot of, lots of with countable and uncountable nouns.
Example:
"How many students are there in the classroom?"
"There are a lot."
"How many students are there in the classroom?"
"There are a lot of / lots of students"..
In formal written English:
- It is also possible (and preferable) to use many and much rather than a lot of, lots of and a lot in formal written English.
Example:
There are many students.
Much time was spent on studying.
So if you're speaking or writing to friends (informal), use a lot, a lot of, lots of. But if you want to be more formal, perhaps it is preferable to use much and many.
Remember:
In affirmative sentences with so, as or too, we also use much / many.
Examples:
- "Carla has so many friends."
- "She has as many friends as Sue."
- "Kevin has too much money."
Summary:
Interrogative | Negative | Affirmative |
---|---|---|
How many books are there? |
There aren't many. |
There are a lot. |
There are a lot of books. | ||
There are lots of books. | ||
There are many books (formal) | ||
How much money have you got? |
I haven't got much. |
I've got a lot. |
I've got a lot of money. | ||
I've got lots of money. | ||
I have got much money (formal) |