What part of speech is the word 'many'
Here is a sentence:
' There were so many people in town that you couldn't walk around.'

I'm a bit confused about the use of 'many', is it an adjective or a determiner?

Thanks for your help

Question

What part of speech is the word 'many'
Here is a sentence: 
' There were so many people in town that you couldn't walk around.'

I'm a bit confused about the use of 'many', is it an adjective or a determiner?

Thanks for your help

Answer

Hi there, 
It's a determiner - Determiners have two functions:
a) they show us who or what is being talked about
b) they show us how many or how much of something is being talked about
In some grammar books you may find that type b determiners are described as adjectives - you can see why, as they tell us more about the noun. However, Cambridge (see below) has a useful way of describing determiners: 
 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/determiners-the-my-some-this

Hope this helps, Helen

Answer

I think a grammarian would say its determiner there. But why do you care?

Answers · 4

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