much-little/many-few

[Anonymous]

I have been told that you use much and little when the subject cannot be counted and many and few when it could be counted. But then, how come there are "many" fish in the ocean since this would seem impossible to count? It would be easier to count a "little" salt.
Ray

 

[MikeNewYork]

I have been told that you use much and little when the subject cannot be counted and many and few when it could be counted. But then, how come there are "many" fish in the ocean since this would seem impossible to count? It would be easier to count a "little" salt.
Ray

When we use the terms "countable" and "uncountable", we are not discussing ease of counting. One can't count "salt" because salt is made up of grains. One could count the grains, but it would be difficult. Fish are fish; they are not made up of smaller particles (unless one goes to atoms). So each fish is countable. The problem is that "fish" can be the plural of "fish" and that makes the word seem uncountable to some people. :wink: