2

Normally, you often hear "You ate so much!". It seems that "much" here is food and food is uncountable noun so we use "much".

But let see this sentence "There were 50 candies on the plate, but now they re all gone. You ate so many!". We use "many" because candy is countable noun.

Does above sentence make any sense?

Improve this question
2
  • 4
    Yes, because we use "many" for countable things, and "much" for uncountable things. So many apples, but so much pudding.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jul 28, 2016 at 2:29
  • 1
    @stangdon, why not post that as an answer?
    – Dangph
    Commented Jul 28, 2016 at 4:31

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

"You ate so many" is absolutely right in that context. The words "many" and "much" can function as pronouns. "Much" replaces a non-count noun and many a count noun. Since "candy" is being used as a count noun above you use "many"

  • You ate so many (candies)
  • You ate so much (candy)
  • You ate so much (food)

all correct

  • You ate so much candies.

Incorrect

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .