HOW MUCH or HOW MANY?

What is the difference between MUCH and MANY?

In English many nouns (things / objects) like pens, books, oranges, etc. are COUNTABLE . We can say 2 pens, 3 books, 5 oranges. With countable nouns we use MANY. How many pens do you have?  Many things we can count are in the plural form and end with an /S/: penS, bookS, orangeS.

But some nouns or things are UNCOUNTABLE. For example, we cannot count things like SAND, HAIR, SUGAR, RICE, etc because there are too many to count. So, in this case, we must say, ‘How much rice would you like?’  It is impossible to count (1+1+3=…) these things because they are too small to count.  In the same way, other nouns like information, time or knowledge or uncountable.

UNCOUNTABLE  MUCH  MUCH  MUCH
SOLIDS butter rice sand
LIQUIDS milk water oil
GROUPED NOUNS information money food
ABSTRACT NOUNS love happiness knowledge
 (SCHOOL) SUBJECTS maths physics science
MATERIALS wood paper cotton
GASES / ENERGY air oxygen electricity

 

What about TIME or MONEY? I think you can count them?
No, you can’t count time or money. You can count coins or dollars. You can’t count time but you can count minutes, hours and seconds. In the same way, you can’t count coffee but you can count cups of coffee. For example: How much coffee is is in the bag?   I’d like two cups of coffee, please

MANY MUCH
COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE
dollars / coins money
minutes / hours time
a piece of bread bread
a bowl of rice rice
a cup of coffee coffee
a spoon of sugar sugar
a glass of milk milk
a litre of petrol petrol
a jar of jam jam
a slice of meat meat

How much, how many, a lot of or lots of?

You can use A LOT OF / LOTS OF if you are not sure if something is countable or uncountable.  For example: Yesterday, I had lots of coffee. / Yesterday, I had many cups of coffee.   I ate a lot of meat for lunch.  This is a good trick but you must be careful when making a question.  For example: How much meat did you have for lunch?  Did you have a lot of meat for lunch? How a lot of meat did you have for lunch?

PRACTICE EXERCISE – test your knowledge of much and many with this video

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8 votes, 4.1 avg

HOW MUCH OR HOW MANY?

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF HOW MUCH AND HOW MANY WITH THIS QUIZ!

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DON'T PUT TOO ____ SALT IN YOUR FOOD!

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2 / 12

I NEED SOME MORE LETTUCE FOR THE SALAD!

HOW _____ DO YOU NEED?

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3 / 12

I ATE TOO ____ CAKE!

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4 / 12

THE CHILDREN ATE SO ___ COOKIES.

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5 / 12

HOW _____ VEGETABLES SHOULD YOU EAT EVERY DAY?

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6 / 12

HOW ____ LOAVES OF BREAD, DO WE NEED?

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7 / 12

HOW _____ TOMATOES ARE THERE IN THE BOWL?

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8 / 12

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME MILK?

YES, PLEASE. BUT NOT _____.

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I'VE GOT _____ OF BREAD.

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10 / 12

I DON'T EAT ______ OF TOAST.

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11 / 12

HAVE YOU GOT ANY SUSHI?

YES, I'VE GOT SOME BUT NOT ____.

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12 / 12

I ATE _____ OF SALMON.

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For more exercises with much and many click here.

 

  All Or Every?Adjective Order In English   


 

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