Lesson: Much / A Lot of

[english grammar man]

How is "He has much money" grammatically wrong? I have found "much" is used quite often incorrectly by ESL students.

• "Much" is not usually used in positive sentences. It is used in questions.

Eg: How much money do you have?

• and negative sentences.

Eg: We don't have much time.

• and comparisions.

Eg: He's much stronger than I am.

• In positive sentences we use "a lot" or "a lot of" or "lots of".

Eg: He has a lot of money.
Eg: I drank a lot of coffee

NOTE: We use "too much" in positive sentences. It generally has a negative meaning.
Eg: We work too much overtime. = We have more work than we can do.

It's a good idea to get into the habit of using "a lot". This is because "a lot" can be used with any noun, but "much" can only be used with uncountable nouns and "many" can only be used with countable nouns.

You don't have to worry about countable and uncountable nouns when you use "a lot" because it is always correct.
Eg: He has many friends. = He has a lot of friends.

[gfell]

Thanks English Grammar Man.

Pleased to advise that English Grammar Man has kindly offered to post and reply to any questions you may have regarding the English grammar.

[english grammar man]

My pleasure. I will try my best. Now the pressure is on.