[Grammar] much vs many

olga- · Feb 15, 2013

Helo everybody!
Could you explain to me which is right, please.
1. How much time you do you spend on the Internet? -About 5 hours. -That is too many!(or too much)
2.How much do you weigh? – 80 kilos. – That`s too much! (or too many)
Thanks a lot.

billmcd · Feb 15, 2013

olga- said:
Helo everybody!
Could you explain to me which is right, please.
1. How much time you do you spend on the Internet? -About 5 hours. -That is too many!(or too much)
2.How much do you weigh? – 80 kilos. – That`s too much! (or too many)
Thanks a lot.

"Much" in the question/"Much" in the response.
If it were "How many hours etc.", it would be "many" in the response, as in "about 5 hours", "that's too many".

SoothingDave · Feb 15, 2013

"Many" is for countable things. "Much" for uncountable.

The sticking point in your questions is whether you are thinking of the "time" or the "hours." It's too much time, but too many hours. It's too much weight, but too many pounds.

Gillnetter · Feb 15, 2013

olga- said:
Helo everybody!
Could you explain to me which is right, please.
1. How much time you do you spend on the Internet? -About 5 hours. -That is too many!(or too much)
2.How much do you weigh? – 80 kilos. – That`s too much! (or too many)
Thanks a lot.

"Many" is used with countable nouns.
"Much" is used with uncountable nouns.

Time is uncountable, so we use "much".
The number of apples in a bag are countable, so we use "many".
How many stars are there in the galaxy? Countable.
How much distance is there between the two stars? Uncountable.

How much do you weight is countable - use "much", not "many".

Odessa Dawn · Feb 15, 2013

Gillnetter said:
How much do you weight is countable - use "much", not "many".

Will you clear this up please? Should I add the prefix (un-) to the word "Countable?"

Thank you.

Gillnetter · Feb 15, 2013

Odessa Dawn said:
Will you clear this up please? Should I add the prefix (un-) to the word "Countable?"

Thank you.

You can if you want to say that something is not countable. The prefix "un" is fairly common in English -
touchable - untouchable
readable - unreadable
reachable - unreachable

probus · Feb 16, 2013

Countable/uncountable is the standard grammatical explanation. But here is a simple rule that learners can use to choose between much and many. Use many with plural nouns and much with singular. The rule also works with less and fewer. Use less with singular nouns and fewer with plural.

I just ran across this rule in William Safire's On Language, a collection of his NY Times columns from the 1970's. I think it works all the time. At least I haven't been able to think of any exception.

5jj · Feb 16, 2013

probus said:
At least I haven't been able to think of any exception.

I have £50 (fifty pounds) less than I need.

olga- · Feb 20, 2013

billmcd said:
"Much" in the question/"Much" in the response.
If it were "How many hours etc.", it would be "many" in the response, as in "about 5 hours", "that's too many".

Thank you very much, billmcd. This is clear and helpful.:up:

olga- · Feb 20, 2013

Thank you very much for your answer.

[Grammar] much vs many

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