Unit 82: a lot / much / many

Master quantifiers for countable and uncountable nouns

A. much / many / a lot of

a lot of money

not much money

a lot of books

not many books

much + uncountable noun
• Did you buy much food?
• We haven't got much luggage.
• How much money do you want?
• A: Have you got any money?
• B: I've got some but not much.

many + plural noun
• Did you buy many books?
• We don't know many people.
• How many photographs did you take?
• A: Did you take any photographs?
• B: I took some but not many.

a lot of + all types of noun
• We bought a lot of food.
• Paula hasn't got a lot of free time.
• Did they ask you a lot of questions?

Note that we say:

• There is a lot of food/money/water ... (singular verb)
• There are a lot of trees/shops/people ... (plural verb)
• A lot of people speak English. (not 'speaks')

B. much in questions and negatives

We use much in questions and negative sentences, but not usually in positive sentences:
• Do you drink much coffee / a lot of coffee?
• I don't drink much coffee / a lot of coffee.
but 'I drink a lot of coffee.' (not 'I drink much coffee')

We use many and a lot of in all types of sentences:

• Have you got many friends / a lot of friends?
• We haven't got many friends / a lot of friends.
• We've got many friends / a lot of friends.

C. much and a lot without a noun

• Diane spoke to me but she didn't say much.
• 'Do you watch TV much?' 'No, not much.' (= not often)
• We like films, so we go to the cinema a lot. (not 'much')
• I don't like him very much.

much vs a lot of (uncountable)

I don't have much money. → I have a lot of money.
Do you eat much rice? → Yes, I eat a lot of rice.

many vs a lot of (countable)

There aren't many shops. → There are a lot of shops.
Did you take many photos? → Yes, I took a lot of photos.

much / a lot without noun

I don't travel much. → I travel a lot.
She doesn't talk much. → She talks a lot.

82.1 Put in much or many.

Did you buy much food?
There aren't hotels in this town.
We haven't got petrol.
Were there people on the train?
Did students fail the examination?
Paula hasn't got money.
I wasn't very hungry. I didn't eat .
I haven't seen George for years.

82.2 Put in How much or How many.

people are coming to the party?
milk do you want in your coffee?
bread did you buy?
players are there in a football team?

82.3 Complete the sentences. Use much or many with one of these words:

books countries luggage people time times

I don't read very much. I haven't got .
Quick! We must hurry. We haven't got .
Do you travel a lot? Have you been to ?
Tina hasn't lived here very long, so she doesn't know .
'Have you got ?' 'No, only this bag.'
I know Paris very well. I've been there .

82.4 Complete the sentences with a lot of + one of these:

accidents books fun interesting things traffic

I like reading. I have a lot of books.
We enjoyed our visit to the museum. We saw .
This road is very dangerous. There are .
We enjoyed our holiday. We had .
It took me a long time to drive here. There was .

82.5 In some of these sentences much is not natural. Change the sentences or write OK.

Do you drink much coffee?
I drink much tea.
It was a cold winter. We had much snow.
There wasn't much snow last winter.
It costs much money to travel around the world.
We had a cheap holiday. It didn't cost much.
Do you know much about computers?
'Have you got any luggage?' 'Yes, much.'

82.6 Write sentences about these people. Use much and a lot.

Jim loves films. (go to the cinema)
Linda thinks TV is boring. (watch TV)
Tina is a good tennis player. (play tennis)
Martin doesn't like driving. (use his car)
Paul spends most of the time at home. (go out)
Sue has been all over the world. (travel)