Which one is correct
Hello dear native speakers

Which one is correct and why?

The flow rates must have been truly enormous ― perhaps as ....... as a hundred times greater than the 105 tons per second carried by the great Amazon river.

1) many
2) much

Thanks in advance

Question

Which one is correct
Hello dear native speakers

Which one is correct and why?

The flow rates must have been truly enormous ― perhaps as ....... as a hundred times greater than the 105 tons per second carried by the great Amazon river.

1) many
2) much

Thanks in advance

Answer

The sentence uses "as much as", not for the rates, but for the multiplier on the expectation.
as much as one hundred times the exxpected value.
as much as 10.45 times. as much as two and a half times. As much as four and six sevenths as much as expected, ...
A non-integer, non-countable quantity, hence "much" not "many".

.
The flows exceeded this value as many as four times in six months. :) Countable.

Wow technical responses
flows rather than flow rates?

BTW: "et cetera" is two words, from Latin. Just a small typo in Jonathan's response. Another option is "& cetera".

Answer

The correct answer is "much"

You should use "many" for countable objects (like people, books, or hamburgers) and much for things that are not countable (like weight, the rate of something, light, grass, etcetera).  Flow rates can hypothetically be any positive real number, not only whole numbers (integers), so the answer is "much."

Answers · 2

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