[Grammar] A lot of the play is very funny.

[kadioguy]

A lot of the play is very funny.

'You'll find that everybody will try and help their colleague.' — 'Yeah. There's a lot of that.'

(https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lot)


A lot of it is just memorization.
(https://youtu.be/CFdl1oC1vtQ?t=144)

-----------
There is not much difference between a lot of and lots of: they are both used mainly before singular uncountable and plural nouns, and before pronouns.
(Practical English Usage 3rd edition Unit 333.2)

However, 'the play', 'that', and 'it' are all singular countable noun, aren't they?

Why can they use a lot of?

 

[Tarheel]

A lot of the play is very funny.

A lot of our land is used to grow crops for export.

'You'll find that everybody will try and help their colleague.' — 'Yeah. There's a lot of that.'

(https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lot)


A lot of it is just memorization.
(https://youtu.be/CFdl1oC1vtQ?t=144)

-----------
There is not much difference between a lot of and lots of: they are both used mainly before singular uncountable and plural nouns, and before pronouns.
(Practical English Usage 3rd edition Unit 333.2)

However, 'the play', 'our land', 'that', and 'it' are all singular countable nouns, aren't them?

Why do they use a lot of?

Well, "that" and "it" are not countable nouns. Also, "a lot of the play" means "a large portion of the play" Similarly, "a lot of our land" means "a large portion of the land".

 

[kadioguy]

Well, "that" and "it" are not countable nouns. Also, "a lot of the play" means "a large portion of the play" Similarly, "a lot of our land" means "a large portion of the land".

Why not 'Yeah. There are a lot of those (means 'behaviours').' and 'A lot of them (means 'verbs') are just memorization.'?

PS: I found that 'land' is uncountable, so I omitted it in my original post.

 

[Tarheel]

What's relevant depends on context.

You didn't omit it. You deleted it.

You shouldn't delete anything in the original post after it has received one or more responses.

 

[kadioguy]

What's relevant depends on context.

You didn't omit it. You deleted it.

You shouldn't delete anything in the original post after it has received one or more responses.

Actually I deleted it before it received one or more responses.
(the original post is Last edited by kadioguy; Today at 21:18.)
(Your reply is Today, 21:21)

Maybe it is cross-posted, and I am sorry for that.
I am grateful for your responses.

 

[Tarheel]

OK.

 

[kadioguy]

You didn't omit it. You deleted it.

https://goo.gl/QBJUCE


I think it could use omit here.
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[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]omit verb [transitive]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]to fail to include someone or something, either deliberately or because you forget
[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Important details had been omitted from the article.
[/FONT]
https://goo.gl/niw4Qo

 

[Tarheel]

Before you argue with me you should read the material you use as a source. That definition says "fail to include". You did include it. Then you took it out. End of story.

 

[PaulMatthews]

A lot of the play is very funny.

'You'll find that everybody will try and help their colleague.' — 'Yeah. There's a lot of that.'

(https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lot)


A lot of it is just memorization.
(https://youtu.be/CFdl1oC1vtQ?t=144)

-----------
There is not much difference between a lot of and lots of: they are both used mainly before singular uncountable and plural nouns, and before pronouns.
(Practical English Usage 3rd edition Unit 333.2)

However, 'the play', 'that', and 'it' are all singular countable noun, aren't they?

Why can they use a lot of?

Singular "lot" permits singular and plural nouns as complement of "of":

A lot of the car was damaged (singular C) ~ A lot of the cars were damaged (plural C)
A lot of money was stolen (singular NC) ~ A lot of clothes were stolen (plural NC)

 

[kadioguy]

A lot of the car was damaged (singular C)

Does it mean 'many cars were damaged' or 'many portions of the car were damaged'?

 

[Tarheel]

"A lot of the car" refers to one car. There was a great deal of damage to the car.

 

[PaulMatthews]

Does it mean 'many cars were damaged' or 'many portions of the car were damaged'?

One car suffered extensive damage.