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Below is the sentence which was given in my grammar-correction class. It was taught that many should be replaced into various. However, I totally have no idea why it is so.

"Since about the first century, Arawak Indians' many courteous manners had made them stand out from other tribes."

would you explain the reason to me? Thank you very much for your help in advance.

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    Both adjectives are awkward. And the Arawak tribe in Pre-Columbian Puerto Rico stood out as aggressive and warring, not well-mannered.
    – Yosef Baskin
    May 20 at 14:34
  • Manners, in the sense of social deportment, is a plural mass noun, like oats. It takes a plural verb, but it can't be modified by words like various that indicate individuality instead of generality.
    – John Lawler
    May 20 at 14:37
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    @Yosef 'Many' at least is almost universally agreed to be a quantifier (a subclass of determiners, not adjectives). 'Various' here is an adjective, though not always (see Lexico). // I'll take your stance on the history involved as correct, given the standard of the question.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    May 20 at 15:15
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    The bottom line: neither the quantifier many nor the (here) adjective various should be used with the non-count usage of manners in the sentence. The fact that it is a plural-form non-count usage (compare *many clothes / *various clothes; contrast many dogs / various dogs) does not license using 'many' or individualising adjectives like 'assorted'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    May 20 at 15:51
  • It isn’t a good sentence, so it is difficult to answer the question as put. Neither “many” nor “various” are correct. No modifier is called for.
    – George Rickerson
    May 20 at 18:11

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