I was taught that "much" was used for the uncountable nouns and "many" was used for the countable ones. So, why do people often use phrases such as "too much money" or "so much money"?
Are these phrases grammatically correct?
-
3Suggested transfer to English Learners Stack Exchange.– VTHCommented Sep 15, 2018 at 13:37
-
Rule of thumb: if saying "one X", "two Xes", etc. sounds right, then you use 'many'. If not, then you use 'much'. Nobody says "I have one money" or "I have two moneys", so you don't use 'many' with it.– HellionCommented Sep 15, 2018 at 13:39
-
1Yes, they are correct. Money, perhaps ironically, is an uncountable noun. In that sense it is grammatically like rice or flour or time and used with a singular verb and with 'much' or 'little' (rather than 'many' or 'a few').– S ConroyCommented Sep 15, 2018 at 13:41
-
Note that it's not true that money is always uncountable. It has a plural form: either monies or (less commonly) moneys. It's possible to talk about different monies (and, hence, many different monies). This is used in the sense of currencies.– Jason BassfordCommented Sep 16, 2018 at 5:43
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
Yes, those phrases are correct. As to why, you have basically answered your own question: money is normally an uncountable noun.
Cambridge Learner's Dictionary includes annotations [C] and [U] signifying whether a noun is countable or uncountable in a particular meaning. For example, the entry for money (here) has the annotation [U], while the entry for table (here) has annotation [C]. And chicken has [C] for one meaning ('a bird kept on a farm for its meat and eggs'), but [U] for another ('the meat of a chicken') (here).
