bruxinha
Member
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2020
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Portuguese
- Home Country
- Portugal
- Current Location
- Germany
I'm trying to understand subtle meanings about the usage of the quantifiers mentioned above. Usually it is taught that "much, many" are mostly used in negative sentences and questions, and "a lot of/lots of" are commonly used in affirmative sentences.
Now please take a look at the following exercise from a test given to my students (I've added the answer key at the end):
Complete the sentences with much, many or lots of (you may also use a lot of, if you prefer).
Ben: How _____________ eggs do you need for the cake, Jalen? (many)
Jalen: Only three, thank you. Can you give me 500 g butter, please?
Kinga: Oh no, isn’t it too _____________ fat in a cake? (much)
Jalen: Sorry, I mean 50 g butter. I also need some chocolate chips, I love cakes with _______________ chocolate chips inside! (a lot of/lots of)
Li: Oh no, we don’t have _______________ cream to decorate the cake! (much)
Kinga: Hm, we have _______________ fruit. We can decorate it with oranges or blueberries or... (a lot of/lots of)
Jalen: Good idea! But please don’t use _______________ strawberries, my mum needs them for a dessert tomorrow. (many)
The first two are pretty clear to me, no need to comment. My questions are:
1) Would "many" be correct with chocolate chips in an affirmative sentence? It may be grammatical (many --> countable nouns), but does it sound natural?
2) Would "lots of" be correct with cream in a negative sentence? It doesn't sound natural to me in this context... As if the speaker meant, we don't have a huge amount, but it'll be just enough for the purpose. That is different of saying, we don't have much cream, so it won't be enough for the purpose of decorating.
3) Would "much" be correct with fruit in an affirmative sentence? It may be grammatical (much --> uncountable nouns), but does it sound natural? Note: it is fruit, not fruits.
4) Would "lots of" be correct with strawberries in a negative sentence? Does it still sound natural to native speakers, or would you rather use many? (I know, I would probably say "too many" in this case, but that's how the exercise was written.)
Now please take a look at the following exercise from a test given to my students (I've added the answer key at the end):
Complete the sentences with much, many or lots of (you may also use a lot of, if you prefer).
Ben: How _____________ eggs do you need for the cake, Jalen? (many)
Jalen: Only three, thank you. Can you give me 500 g butter, please?
Kinga: Oh no, isn’t it too _____________ fat in a cake? (much)
Jalen: Sorry, I mean 50 g butter. I also need some chocolate chips, I love cakes with _______________ chocolate chips inside! (a lot of/lots of)
Li: Oh no, we don’t have _______________ cream to decorate the cake! (much)
Kinga: Hm, we have _______________ fruit. We can decorate it with oranges or blueberries or... (a lot of/lots of)
Jalen: Good idea! But please don’t use _______________ strawberries, my mum needs them for a dessert tomorrow. (many)
The first two are pretty clear to me, no need to comment. My questions are:
1) Would "many" be correct with chocolate chips in an affirmative sentence? It may be grammatical (many --> countable nouns), but does it sound natural?
2) Would "lots of" be correct with cream in a negative sentence? It doesn't sound natural to me in this context... As if the speaker meant, we don't have a huge amount, but it'll be just enough for the purpose. That is different of saying, we don't have much cream, so it won't be enough for the purpose of decorating.
3) Would "much" be correct with fruit in an affirmative sentence? It may be grammatical (much --> uncountable nouns), but does it sound natural? Note: it is fruit, not fruits.
4) Would "lots of" be correct with strawberries in a negative sentence? Does it still sound natural to native speakers, or would you rather use many? (I know, I would probably say "too many" in this case, but that's how the exercise was written.)
