The question actually is in the title. Google shows both phrases are found:
It's small money.
It's a small money.
So which of them is correct?
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1Of course, 'It's small money'. Or, I'd rather prefer 'It's a small amount of money'. And what exactly do you mean by Google shows both phrases? – Caroffrey Jul 23 '15 at 12:33
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1"It's a small money" is ungrammatical in standard english since money is an uncountable noun. You can do what Caroffrey suggests though and add "amount". "It's small money" is not a phrase I'd normally use. More likely something like "That's small change" or similar. – DRF Jul 23 '15 at 12:42
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@Caroffrey I mean both phrases give a lot of search results. – olegst Jul 23 '15 at 12:55
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@olegst Well, if you're gonna trust every result that a google search would give you, then I'd advise you against it. Simply put, that's not how Google works. it doesn't take its source from an encyclopedia or a dictionary but from a thousand of them and other related works. Who knows which is right. :) And yea, coming back to the question in hand, DRF has some better options as well. – Caroffrey Jul 23 '15 at 13:03
It's small money.
It's a small money.
The word money is an uncountable noun, so we don't use an indefinite article with it. Sometimes, we read moneys in economics, which means sources of revenue.
So the first sentence is OK, but the second one isn't correct.. However, you can say a lot of money, a small amount of money, etc.
