Welcome to 15mins.today the home of English Shadowing.
I'm your host Gavin and this is InTense Episode 23. And in this episode we will be looking at a small thing, which is quite useful and this is the use of “much and many.”
Now in English you have “much and many” and “much” we use for things you cannot count, like water and “more” for things you can count, like chairs. At the end of the day it's very confusing for non-native speakers to know sometimes which things are many as you can count them or much which means you don't count them.
A rule of thumb was always, you can say “two chairs three chairs” but you can’t say “2 waters 3 waters.” I don't know, it's a very difficult subject for most of my students to grasp so today's episode will just be based on this. I always tell them to change it to “a lot of” because “a lot of” is always correct “a lot of water, a lot of chairs” and that's as simple as that. So let's do some questions!
Drill Sentences:
Did Jane send a lot of emails? No, she did not send a lot of emails.
Did the conference use a lot of time? Yes, the conference used a lot of time.
Did the conference use a lot of time? No, the conference did not use a lot of time.
Did you attend a lot of meetings? Yes, I attended a lot of meetings.
Did you attend a lot of meetings? No, I did not attend a lot of meetings.
Did Peter complete a lot of reports? Yes, he completed a lot of reports.
Did Peter complete a lot of reports? No, he did not complete a lot of reports.
Did you stay at a lot of hotels? Yes, I stayed at a lot of hotels.
Did you stay at a lot of hotels? No, I did not stay at a lot of hotels.
Did John and Jane Book a lot of tickets? Yes, they booked a lot of tickets.
Did John and Jane Book a lot of tickets? No, they did not book a lot of tickets.
Did you visit a lot of museums? Yes, I visited a lot of museums.
Did you visit a lot of museums? No, I did not visit a lot of museums.
Did Jeff reboot a lot of computers? Yes, he rebooted a lot of computers.
Did Jeff reboot a lot of computers? No, he did not reboot a lot of computers.
Did Anna drink a lot of juice? Yes, she drank a lot of juice.
Did Anna drink a lot of juice? No, she did not drink a lot of juice.
Did you spend a lot of money? Yes, I spent a lot of money.
Did you spend a lot of money? No, I did not spend a lot of money.
There you are guys, so I hope that's a help for you. Just remember when you're not sure if it's “much or many” just use “a lot of” and as you can see from my examples it always works. Have a great time and catch you next time, bye-bye!