happy4ever 发表于 2008-1-4 08:29:16

A grammatical question

Mr. Green has made it known that much of his collections is to be left to the nation.

How can \"collections\"(a plural noun) be modified by \"much\"? Shall I use \"many\" instead?

Thanks

xiao100 发表于 2008-1-4 19:36:20

collection is countable noun
a group of objects of one type = a collection
maybe Mr. Green have several different type of collectionS

xiao100 发表于 2008-1-4 19:40:50

many, much or a lot of?

Many is used with countable nouns. It is more common in negative sentences and questions.
I haven't seen many films this year.

Much is used with uncountable nouns. It is more common in negative sentences and questions.
We haven't got much time left.

Many and much are both also used in formal positive sentences.
There is still much to do, if we are to be ready for the inspection.

In less formal positive sentences a lot of is generally used because many and much sound too formal. A lot of can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
a lot of people
There was a lot of enthusiasm for the project.
There was much enthusiasm for the project.

lengxin 发表于 2008-1-4 22:49:19

Here MUCH functions a noun, referring to something in the collections.
In the sentence , it dose not modify collections.

winnerwzs 发表于 2008-1-5 09:55:00

make much of :to treat as important
页: [1]
查看完整版本: A grammatical question