[General] How much money?

[Silverobama]

Hi.

A friend of mine asked me a question. She said "What would you do if you knew that you won the lottery?" I asked "How much money"? I wonder if my question is natural to make clear the exact number of the money I won.

 

[Tarheel]

Try this. (See below.)

Ron: What would you do if you won the lottery?
Silver: How much did I win?
Ron: A million dollars. You won a million dollars.
Silver: Wow! I would pay off my mortgage. Then I would take a trip.
Ron: Where would you go?
Silver: I would take a trip to Europe.
Ron: Where would you go?
Silver: I would like to see the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and the pyramids.
Ron: The pyramids are not in Europe. They are in Egypt, which is in Africa.
Silver: But I want to see them.
Ron: OK.

(Say the exact amount of money.)

 

[Silverobama]

Do you mean that "How much did I win" is the natural question here?

 

[emsr2d2]

Do you mean that "How much did I win?" is the natural question here?

It's more natural than "How much money?" When someone has already mentioned the lottery, given that everyone knows that lottery prizes are money, there's no need to use the word. You could just say "How much?"

 

[teechar]

Hi.
A friend of mine asked me a question. She said "What would you do if you ([STRIKE]knew[/STRIKE] found out that) you won the lottery?"

See above.

I asked "How much money"?

She actually didn't say that you had won. She asked a hypothetical question. Thus, your response doesn't work. Possible answers to your friend's question might be:

I'd retire to the Bahamas.
I'd buy a Ferrari.
I'd give half to charity.
Or
It depends on how much I won.

I wonder if my question is natural to [STRIKE]make clear[/STRIKE] clarify/ascertain the exact [STRIKE]number[/STRIKE] amount of [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] money I won.

Again, your friend didn't say you'd won.

 

[Tdol]

I'd just use How much- lotteries pay out in money, so the word seems unnecessary to me.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask "How much?" even in a hypothetical situation, because the amount of money would make a difference to your response.

Helen: What would you do if you found out you'd won the lottery?
Joe: Well, it depends. How much money are we talking about?
Helen: OK, let's say fifty thousand pounds.
Joe: In that case, I'd pay off a chunk of my mortgage and buy a new car.
Helen: What if you won twenty million?
Joe: Ah! That's a whole different story! I'd give up work, sell my flat, donate a million to my favourite charity, then buy a yacht and spend the rest of my life travelling the world.

 

[teechar]

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask "How much?" even in a hypothetical situation,

I think it (how much on its own) is.

A: What would you do if you won the lotto?
B: How much?

I think that's very unnatural.

See also the last in the list of my suggestions above.

 

[Silverobama]

I appreciate your help, friends.

I noticed teechar's correction of my first sentence is "What would you do if you found out you won the lottery?" while emsr2d2's is "What would you do if you found out you'd won the lottery?"

I wonder if both are okay. My thought is I first won the lottery then I knew it, so emsr2d2's is more appropriate. I wonder if you can tell me why the first one is also okay from grammar's perspective. I ask because I more often than not write down things you wrote as examples in my notebooks for my students. So, I need to make sure I totally understand the reason.

 

[GoesStation]

Use the past perfect.

 

[Tarheel]

Silver, you don't need found out there. In fact, the question is always phrased this way:

What would you do if you won the lottery?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Silver, you don't need found out there. In fact, the question is always phrased this way:

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Yup. Exactly. You beat me to it.

And I'd answer, "It depends on how much I won."

 

[Silverobama]

Use the past perfect.

Would you please explain why the past tense is wrong?

 

[GoesStation]

I noticed teechar's correction of my first sentence is "What would you do if you found out you won the lottery?" while emsr2d2's is "What would you do if you found out you'd won the lottery?"

Would you please explain why the past tense is wrong?

The winning happened before you found out about it. The past perfect establishes this timeline.