One Minute Grammar #3-15 Much / Many

Quantifiers (Much / Many) - One Minute Grammar

Todd / United States

What is your favorite place?

Script
Grammar
Quiz

Hi everybody. This is Todd, your teacher from elllo. And right now, I am at my favorite place. This is a beach near my house where I live and teach and work in Japan. I love this beach for many reasons. One, there aren't many people on the beach, so usually this beach is really quiet and there's not a lot going on. There's many trees near the beach. There's a beautiful forest, so you can take a walk in there. And the beach usually is really clean. There isn't much pollution. There isn't much noise. Although, sometimes you can hear a plane because many planes land by the airport. I guess we can't see one now, but there are many planes in this area. And it's just a nice place.

There's a lot of space. There's a lot of light. And it's just a really peaceful place. So, because of that, I really enjoy it. And there's many things you can do here. You can take a walk. You can relax on the beach. You can listen to the waves. It's just really, really peaceful. So for that reason, I love this beach. It's my favorite place in Beppu.

Much and Many

Countable - Use many, lots of and a lot of before plural nouns in affirmative and negative sentences. Use any in negative sentences.

We have many friends.
We don't have many close friends. (few friends)
We have a lot of friends.
We don't have a lot of close friends. (few friends)
We have lots of friends
We don't have lots of close friends. (few friends)
We don't have any friends. (no friends)

Countable - Use any, many, lots of and a lot of before plural nouns in yes/no questions.

Do you have any pens?
Do you have many pens?
Do you have a lot of pens?
Do you have lots of pens?

Note that in question #1, the speaker is asking if the person has a pen, while questions #2-#4 ask if the person has a high quantity of pens.

Uncountable - Use lots of and a lot of before non-count nouns in affirmative and negative sentences. Do not use much in affirmative sentences. Use much in negative sentences.