much, many and a lot of

@adhyz82 (36249)
Indonesia
September 7, 2011 7:56am CST
as a people who english is not my native language, i always difficult to differentiate when i must use "much", when i must use "many" and when i must use " a lot of" here, i do hope my friend can explain about 3 sentences...iam happy if iam clear about your explanation
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4 responses
@webcodez (172)
• Netherlands
7 Sep 11
They have a significant difference ( note: I'm not a native english speaker, but I learnt this from high school a while back ): "much" should be used for things that ar abstract or cannot be counted ( e.g. much milk ( you cannot say "I have 10 milk", of course you can say " 10 liter milk " but that doesn't count ) ), "many" should be used for things that can be counted ( e.g. " I have many dollars " you can count dollars, or using the previous example " I have many liters of milk " you can count liters ). Here are a few more examples: much: " I've spent much time on myLot " - time cannot be counted literally, so we use 'much' many: " I've spent many hours on myLot " - hours can be counted literally, so we use 'many' Hope this answers your question, if not just let know! :D Also note that " a lot " or " lots of " can be used in both cases, e.g.: " I've spent lots of time on myLot " and " I've spent lots of hours on myLot ".
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@webcodez (172)
• Netherlands
7 Sep 11
woops, I made 1 typo: I meant " a lot of time " and " a lot of hours " in the last example, my bad! m
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@adhyz82 (36249)
• Indonesia
7 Sep 11
i still confuse... what about if we are talking like sugar, rice,?? what should we use? much or many?
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@webcodez (172)
• Netherlands
7 Sep 11
use "much", because you cannot count sugar nor rise, you canot say " I've got 10 rice " or " I've got 10 sugar ", that's the way I check whether it's "much" or "many".
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• Indonesia
7 Sep 11
"much" use for a lot of subject you can't measuring. "many" use for subject that you can measuring how much are it.
@adhyz82 (36249)
• Indonesia
8 Sep 11
give me example if you don`t mind
• Indonesia
8 Sep 11
i wasn't good in english, but maybe i can give some sample. if you use "much" word, like " he give me much water to drink" or "many people go to watch a music concert". a "lot" word, use to replace both word. so you can change "many" or much" with a "a lot of". there is no different between "lot" with "many" or "much".
@adhyz82 (36249)
• Indonesia
8 Sep 11
what about if we say in negative sentences or make in interogative sentence/??
@2wicelot (2945)
7 Sep 11
You use much for things you can not count; for example water, time, energy, air, etc, etc. You use many for things you can count; for example people, cars, computers, etc, etc. As for a lot, it is also suitable for things you can count. I hope this little summary helps.
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@adhyz82 (36249)
• Indonesia
8 Sep 11
what about negative and positive statement??
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@Sanitary (3968)
• Singapore
12 Sep 11
I know how to use them, but i'm not able to explain it to u. It's an instinct over at my side after i learned how to use them. Besides my wy of using it is not correct and it will only mislead u. It's better for others to teach u, but make sure it's the right one. All i know is that, A lot is the greatest amount among many and much.
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@adhyz82 (36249)
• Indonesia
12 Sep 11
yes,you are right i think i wanna see the example....but you can`t explain it