quantity of beans

[navi tasan]

Which is correct:

1) I ate as much beans as you did.
2) I ate as many beans as you did.
3) I ate as much bean as you did.

The idea is that I ate the same amount of beans you did.

Gratefully,
Navi

 

[Tarheel]

Use the second one.

 

[emsr2d2]

Navi tasan, do you know why only the second one is correct? (Hint: Think about countable/non-countable nouns, and the use of "much/many" with them.)

 

[Tarheel]

Also, beans is an interesting choice. Why is that? That's because although they are countable they are rarely counted. (See below.)

Jack: How many beans did you eat?
Mack: I have no idea.
Jack: Didn't you count them?
Mack: No, I didn't count them. I never count them.

You can substitute peas or raisins (to name just two things) for beans.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you both very much,

Yes, that is why 'beans' was a problem for me. You don't say how many rices did you eat? You say how much rice did you eat. In my languages we treat beans and nuts and raisons like rice!

I ate half a pound of beans. I bought a pound of beans...

I guess if we want to formulate questions that those would be the answers to we would have to say
A) What amount of beans did you buy?
B) How many pounds of beans did you buy?

You'd never ask anyone how many beans they bought, would you?

It all seems strange to me!

Gratefully,
Navi

 

[Tarheel]

Well, each unit is a bean. But that's not true of rice. Each unit is a kernel of rice.

I suppose that those of us who cook buy either one by the pound.

 

[Skrej]

I don't really have an definitive answer for you, but the answer here at least sounds plausible.

I do, however, humbly propose that the proper unit of measure for beans should be a 'toot'.

I also may have found some evening's entertainment in endeavoring to purchase a single bean from the bulk selection offered at my local grocery store. Clearly, I would need to buy single beans of multiple varieties, under the guise of "taste testing before committing to a full [STRIKE]pound[/STRIKE] toot".

I suspect the scales wouldn't be sensitive enough to register the weight of a single bean, though. Even if it did, I doubt the cash register is equipped to deal with fractional cents. Unless of course I bought a really high-end bean that cost a minimum of a penny per bean. I'm not that high a roller, unfortunately. Curse you, cruel world.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you both very much,

If you got toot, you are a very high roller!

Just kidding.

Respectfully,
Navi