how much of

[White Hat]

I know it sounds stupid, but what do you say when referring to getting a certain amount of (countable) fruits or vegetables? Do I have to say What's the amount of apples you're getting? How many pounds?
Obviously, it would be wrong to say How much of the apples are you getting? The other person would reply Five pounds.
Please tell me. Thank you.

 

[bhaisahab]

I know it sounds stupid, but what do you say when referring to getting a certain amount of (countable) fruits or vegetables? Do I have to say What's the amount of apples you're getting? How many pounds?
Obviously, it would be wrong to say How much of the apples are you getting? The other person would reply Five pounds.
Please tell me. Thank you.

The usual question would be "How many apples are you going to get?"

 

[White Hat]

This was written by Linda Griffith and Fred Griffith:

Then Linda would have to bargain how much of the onions would be her snack...

Are we really allowed to put it like that?

 

[BobSmith]

[not a teacher]

I'm not entirely clear on what you're asking. However, I would ask these two questions:

How many apples are you getting? Three apples.
How many pounds of apples are you getting? 1.5 pounds of apples.
How much apple does the recipe call for? Three apples. (This would be a less frequent usage.)

 

[bhaisahab]

This was written by Linda Griffith and Fred Griffith:

Then Linda would have to bargain how much of the onions would be her snack...

Are we really allowed to put it like that?

I'd say "how much onion" or "how many onions".

 

[White Hat]

[not a teacher]

I'm not entirely clear on what you're asking. However, I would ask these two questions:

How many apples are you getting? Three apples.
How many pounds of apples are you getting? 1.5 pounds of apples.

I just wanted to know if "how much of" could be used in such situations? Thanks.

 

[BobSmith]

I just wanted to know if "how much of" could be used in such situations? Thanks.

[not a teacher]

how much of the onions would be her snack

Normaly it would be "many" here. I can see a native speaker starting off thinking "How much of [the collection of] onions ... " and using "much", but droping the collection aspect. Just my $0.02.

 

[White Hat]

It's not the potatoes or the bread on their own, Susan explains, but what you add to it that brings on excess weight. "A single tablespoon of sour cream contains 25 calories and a tablespoon of butter has 100 calories. How much of these are you putting on your bread and potatoes?" she asks. In addition to those extras, "think about how much of potatoes or bread you are eating. If you stick to a normal portion size and limit your number of servings, your diet will balance out with calories."

I still wonder whether this sounds natural to native ears:

How much of (=what amount of) potatoes did he get?

 

[5jj]

. "A single tablespoon of sour cream contains 25 calories and a tablespoon of butter has 100 calories. How much of these are you putting on your bread and potatoes?" (That is just about possible) she asks. In addition to those extras, "think about how much of potatoes (That sound very unnatural to me) or bread you are eating. If you stick to a normal portion size and limit your number of servings, your diet will balance out with calories."

Far more natural to me would be "... think about how much potato and bread you are eating." I could accept "... how much bread and potatoes...", but "...how much of potatoes and bread..." sounds terrible.

 

[BobSmith]

I agree it sounds terrible, but I can also see where the speaker is trying to connect "how much" to "what you're eating". The “of potatoes” is rather incidental here, IMO.

 

[White Hat]

I, surely, will never reach your level in English as I wasn't born and bred in an English speaking country, but doesn't how much of stand here as something immune to what follows it? Doesn't it deal with the amount (of)? English is so complex. Everything is possible!

 

[White Hat]

By the way, this issue has been addressed by native speakers here.

How much raisins clearly sounds wrong, but ask "how many raisins do you need for this recipe" and your smart-aleck mother is likely to say something like "97" instead of the expected "1/2 cup." "How much raisins" and "how many raisins" both sound wrong to me in this context -- I finally decided that the only answer I could really endorse was "how many cups of raisins" or "how many ounces of raisins." (Even "cups" doesn't sound quite right if you know that the answer is going to be a fraction of a cup.) (by a guy from USA)

Or maybe 'How much of the raisins . . .' Perhaps one could argue that the thought is 'What quantity of raisins. . .?' (by a guy from Canada)

So it looks like we're better off saying just How many pounds of apples did you get? or What amount of apples did he get? or What quantity of apples did he get?

 

[BobSmith]

So it looks like we're better off saying just How many pounds of apples did you get? or What amount of apples did he get? or What quantity of apples did he get?

[not a teacher]

No. You will still (usually) say "how many apples" because apples are big things, easily countable, and where each one is significant. Raisins, on the other hand, are small things, not easily countable, and where each one is not significant. Because of this, "many raisins" and "much raisins" sound strange, and most native speakers, IMO, will unconsciously switch to "how many cups of raisins". And, don't listen to the guy who said "cups of" sounds strange if you know it's a half-cup. "How many cups?" "A half cup." Perfectly acceptable.