many/much staff

[Verona_82]

Hello!

Could somebody please help me find out whether 'staff' takes 'many' or 'much' as a quantifier?

The Macmillan Dictionary says 'staff' is [U], so I shoud say 'how much staff do you need?"
Longman refers to 'staff'' as a [C] noun, therefore it should be "how many staff.."

Which one should I believe?

Thank you very much in advance.

[5jj]

Hello!

Could somebody please help me find out whether 'staff' takes 'many' or 'much' as a quantifier?

The Macmillan Dictionary says 'staff' is [U], so I should say 'how much staff do you need?"
Longman refers to 'staff'' as a [C] noun, therefore it should be "how many staff.."

Which one should I believe?

Thank you very much in advance.

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary has:[C, usually sing.], which doesn't help us in this situation either. How many would be the one I'd expect to say/hear in BrE.

[Verona_82]

Thank you, fivejedjon!

PS. It's pretty difficult to learn English when the only source of knowledge is a dictionary.

[5jj]

Thank you, fivejedjon!

PS. It's pretty difficult to learn English when the only source of knowledge is a dictionary.

I have lots of resources, I am a native speaker, I can discuss things with teachers who are native speakers, and I am still learning about English after nearly sixty years of studying it.

If you are managing with just a dictionary, then good luck - and congratulations on what you have achieved so far.

And let's both be grateful for the existence of this forum!

[riquecohen]

Hello!

Could somebody please help me find out whether 'staff' takes 'many' or 'much' as a quantifier?

The Macmillan Dictionary says 'staff' is [U], so I shoud say 'how much staff do you need?"
Longman refers to 'staff'' as a [C] noun, therefore it should be "how many staff.."

Which one should I believe?

Thank you very much in advance.

I would probably say (in AmE) "How much staff do you need?" or "How many staff members do you need?"

[Verona_82]

Thank you!
5jj, you cannot imagine how grateful I am for the existence of this forum. And never before have I suspected there's such a huge difference between AmE and BrE, even in the usage of quantifiers!