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Many or much I see many people. I have much money. Why?

Corrections · 6

2

Many or much

I see many people. I have much money. Why?
1

Many or much:

1.  I see many people.

2.  I have so much money.

Why?

In sentence #1, your noun (people) is more than one, so you use the word "many."

In sentence #2,  "money" is a singular collective noun, which means that even though it could have great value, or could be lots of bills or coins, it is still considered one thing.  To make the sentence sound more like a native speaker, insert "so" in front of "money."

However, to say that you have "so much money" implies that you have so much money that you can't spend it all.  (I have so much money, I'll be rich for the rest of my life.")

For sentence #2, you could say:  "I have a lot of money," and that does not imply anything.  It could mean that you have a lot of money right now.  Most people would not say that though, because it could be considered a form of bragging.

Here is a link (with audio) to good example sentences using the word "much:"  http://www.manythings.org/audio/sentences/89.html

Great question!  I hope this helps you.  Karen 




0
MANY people, cars, animals, stars, lamps, windows, phones, thoughts, computers, seas, definitions by extension, examples ..... BUT MUCH salt, sand, powder, dust, soil, earth, fire, water, brandy, money (for which the quantum is a (comparatively small) penny), pleasure, fun, trouble, sea, ....
0
"Many," is used with plurals. "Much," is used with singular items. "There are many different ways of writing an essay." "He does not have much courage." By the way - we do not really say "I have much money." We would say "I have a lot of money." However, we do say "It does not cost much money," although this is often shortened to "it does not cost much," in which it is understood that the word money is being referred to (because we have used the word cost).
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So English has countable and uncountable nouns. IN GENERAL, this means that countable nouns are things where you could count each individual part (ex. 1 person, 2 people, 3 people, 4 people). If something has a singular and a plural, it's countable (1 person, 2 people - there are different words; 1 cat, 2 cats - add an s). If there is only one word for something, and it's nor plural or singular, then it's uncountable. Uncountable nouns are usually used for liquids (water, milk, etc), concepts (information), things that would be difficult to count (rice, pasta), etc. COUNTABLE nouns use many. UNCOUNTABLE nouns use much. You can find more information, and more examples here: http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/countable-uncountable-nouns.htm

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