> Other English exercises on the same topics: Idioms | Plural | Quantities [Change theme]
	> Similar tests: - Plural - Plural forms - Placement test 1 - Countable or Uncountable? - Some / Any / Much / Many - Some and any - Plural of words - Verb-singular or plural?
	> Double-click on words you don't understand

Many - much and locutions

1) When to use MUCH or MANY. (meaning A LOT, they express a big quantity):

MUCH + uncountable:  quickly, and putting it in simple terms, uncountables cannot be "counted".

- They can't be put in the plural. The verb is ALWAYS IN THE SINGULAR.

- They can't be preceded by a number (cardinal : one, two, three... etc.) or ordinal : (first, second, third ...), by 'few/ a few/ many',or by the indefinite article 'a/ an'.

- They can be preceded by 'some, any, no', by 'little', 'a little', much, this/ that ( but not by 'these/  those'  which indicate plurals).

To be more precise, we should use 'a lot of' or 'a piece of'... or omit the indefinite article.

- cotton, iron, gold, velvet, chocolate, butter,  beer,  tea, wine, business, work, swimming, housing...  

- furniture, luggage (in British English)/ baggage (in American English).

- a set of abstract  things: corresponding to plurals in French:   

- information/ advice/ progress/ news/ knowledge/ evidence/ nonsense/ trouble, etc.

- Not much chocolate/ much/ a lot of work/ much furniture/ much evidence/                                                          

MANY accompanies a countable noun (in the plural) : countables can be «counted» and there are quite a lot of them...

- They are used in the singular or in the plural. 

- They can be preceded by a number (cardinal or ordinal), by 'many', 'few', 'a few', 'several', 'these' and 'those', 'a' or 'an' ...

- cats/ dogs/ students / tables / cups/ ....

Some words are sometimes countables, and sometimes uncountables : (cf test 105884  test . The test following this lesson won't deal with these "changing words"... 

2)   Some phrases are formed with MUCH and MANY... (They follow the same rules...)

a)   HOW MUCH + singular / HOW MANY + plural= questioning about a quantity. 

-  How much butter do you eat a week ?

-  How many books can he carry alone ?

b)   As much + singular... as ... // as many + plural... as = showing equality between two elements. 

-  I don't have as much free time as I'd like to.

-  He'll have as many shares as the other investors...

c)   So much + singular... that ...// so many +plural... that = so much so that...

- There's so much inflation in this country that the whole population is affected.

-  He wants so many presents for Xmas that I don't know what to buy...

d)  Too much + singular // too many + plural = Too many/ much ... (an excessive quantity)

- He has too much work and should have assistants to help him.

- I have too many problems to solve now...

e)   TWICE/ THREE TIMES / FOUR TIMES as much +uncountable as... /// TWICE/ THREE TIMES/ FOUR TIMES as many +countable... as... 

         -  He earns twice as much money as his wife.

       - There are ten times as many students now as there were in our days...

Twitter Share
English exercise "Many - much and locutions" created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
Click here to see the current stats of this English test

Please log in to save your progress.

1. 'I’m sorry I don’t have much informationtoo many informationsa lot of informationsmany informationsI don't know to give about the event.I’ll know more tomorrow.'



2. There are too much peoplehow much peoplehow many peopleso much peopleso many peopleI don't know standing in the line before me that I don’t think I’ll manage to get in.



3. 'You’re making how much noiseso many noisetoo much noiseI don't know... Stop it now, or I’ll send you to bed.'



4. 'Don’t worry... You’ll get so much timeas much timeas many timeso many timesI don't know to do this work as you’ll need. '



5. There’s so much unemploymentso many unemploymentstoo much unemploymentI don't know in that area that he’ll have to leave it if he wants to find a job.



6. This company has twice as many employeestwice more employeestwice as much employeesI don't know now as when it started business.



7. She drinks three times more coffee thanthree times as much coffee asthree times as many coffees thanI don't know would be reasonable. It’s bad for her health.



8. ' As much luggageToo many luggagesSo much luggageHow much luggageI don't know does he have? ' ' Just one bag and his laptop. He should be able to carry it alone.'



9. Our teacher gave us too many exercisestoo much exerciseso many exercisehow many exercisesI don't know and I won’t have enough time to do all of them.



10. There’s how much furniturehow many furniturestoo much furnitureI don't know in this very small room and we can hardly move.