In my previous video, you found out how to use some and any – great!  (And if you haven’t seen it you can find it here)

But what about a lot of, many and much?  Are they interchangeable?  Do they form part of any idioms? Check out my new video, which is the second in my series about common quantifiers – those words that talk about an amount of something. 

A lot of

A lot of is always used for positive sentences. 

Examples:
– There were a lot of people at the party.
– I eat a lot of bananas.

This is an informal expression, used mostly in conversation. We don’t use a lot of for questions or negative statements.

Example:
– I don’t have a lot of time. ✘

You might have heard native English speakers say this, but it is incorrect so be careful not to use it in a speaking exam.

Many

Many can be used for questions and negative sentences, and is only used for countable nouns.

Example:
Q: Do you have many friends?
A: No, I don’t have many friends. 

This means I have a small number of friends.

Example:
You didn’t make many cakes and now they’re all gone.

In positive sentences, many can be used in a more formal way than a lot of. You might see it used in written articles or reports. It is especially common to put many with the nouns ‘years’ and ‘people’.

Examples:
– We went to Paris many years ago.
– He has been doing Karate for many years.
– Many people are afraid of the dark.

Much

For uncountable nouns, much is used in the same way as many.

Negative sentences
Examples:
– We don’t have much milk.
– Nobody has been given much information about the subject.

Questions
Examples:
– Do we have much time left?
– How much money do I need?

We can use negative words such as without and never with much.

Examples:
– He can run 10 km without much effort.
– My children can go all day without having much to drink.
– I never see much traffic when I am driving at 3 am.
– My friends never give much parenting advice. 

Again, these can be separated by a verb.

For the slightly more advanced English learner, there are also two similar idioms using much – “never so much as” and “without so much as” – they mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably.  Use these expressions when someone does not do or give something that was expected of them. The standard or polite thing that people would normally do hasn’t been done.

Examples:
– She never so much as thanked me for all my help.
– He barged into the house without so much as a knock.
– They left suddenly without so much as a goodbye.