Much of a manyness
This week's Thursday usage note may actually be a grammar note. In fact, it's one I think I might have written about before.
Here's the problem: much of my authors can't tell the difference between an amount of things that can be counted and a number of things that can't, many of the time.
Let us consider apples and rice.
Apples are countable things. You can have one apple, six apples, or a bushel of apples. One and six are numbers. So you can also have an unspecified number of apples, or very many apples.
Rice is not a countable thing. You can have one grain of rice, but in this instance you are counting grains, not rice. You cannot have one rice. Similarly, while you can have a large quantity or amount of rice, you can't have a number of rice. You can have much rice, but not many rices.
Countable Nouns
Some nouns are like "apples." They represent things that can be counted: tractors, books, pennies, recipes. All of these nouns can be made plural or singular (though they singular and plural forms may look similar, as with "sheep.") When you want to discuss unspecified quantities of such things, you may use any of the following constructions:
A number of sandwiches
A quantity of tractors
Many close friends
You should avoid modifiers that are used to modify uncountable (or non-count) nouns:
Much sandwiches
A large amount of tractors.
So, when is it okay to use "much" or "amount"?
Non-count (or Uncountable) Nouns
Some nouns represent things that don't get counted, like rice*, courage, or procreation. We can't say "Please go to the store and get six courages." Many of these nouns, such as money, rice, or, I guess, tea represent masses of things, but they're things that come in masses, rather than in countable numbers.
So we may say
A lot of tea
Much joy
Great courage
An amount of pessimism.
But "a large number of tea" sounds strange, doesn't it?
Of Course, Some Weirdness Happens
Because language is plastic and people bend and shape it to suit their needs, some nouns work both ways: If a restaurant boasts a number of different teas on its tea list, we know that they mean a number of different varieties of tea; and we may order "a jasmine tea, please," meaning "a pot (or cup, I suppose) of jasmine tea." Thus, we're treating a noun that is typically non-count in a countable manner.
The question to as, before you decide whether to use "much," or "many," or whether you have a number or an amout of something, is whether it's possible to have three of it. If you can have three of it, you can say "a number of X," or "Many Xs." You will be better off than many of my authors, who seem to have much difficulty with this.
* Yes, oh dear pedantic ones, we can count grains of rice. But then the grains are countable, and the rice is simply modifying the grains. In Latin, "rice" would be in the genetive, and it would all be much clearer. I mentioned the "grains = countable" thing in the introduction. Do pay attention!
Here's the problem: much of my authors can't tell the difference between an amount of things that can be counted and a number of things that can't, many of the time.
Let us consider apples and rice.
Apples are countable things. You can have one apple, six apples, or a bushel of apples. One and six are numbers. So you can also have an unspecified number of apples, or very many apples.
Rice is not a countable thing. You can have one grain of rice, but in this instance you are counting grains, not rice. You cannot have one rice. Similarly, while you can have a large quantity or amount of rice, you can't have a number of rice. You can have much rice, but not many rices.
Countable Nouns
Some nouns are like "apples." They represent things that can be counted: tractors, books, pennies, recipes. All of these nouns can be made plural or singular (though they singular and plural forms may look similar, as with "sheep.") When you want to discuss unspecified quantities of such things, you may use any of the following constructions:
A number of sandwiches
A quantity of tractors
Many close friends
You should avoid modifiers that are used to modify uncountable (or non-count) nouns:
Much sandwiches
A large amount of tractors.
So, when is it okay to use "much" or "amount"?
Non-count (or Uncountable) Nouns
Some nouns represent things that don't get counted, like rice*, courage, or procreation. We can't say "Please go to the store and get six courages." Many of these nouns, such as money, rice, or, I guess, tea represent masses of things, but they're things that come in masses, rather than in countable numbers.
So we may say
A lot of tea
Much joy
Great courage
An amount of pessimism.
But "a large number of tea" sounds strange, doesn't it?
Of Course, Some Weirdness Happens
Because language is plastic and people bend and shape it to suit their needs, some nouns work both ways: If a restaurant boasts a number of different teas on its tea list, we know that they mean a number of different varieties of tea; and we may order "a jasmine tea, please," meaning "a pot (or cup, I suppose) of jasmine tea." Thus, we're treating a noun that is typically non-count in a countable manner.
The question to as, before you decide whether to use "much," or "many," or whether you have a number or an amout of something, is whether it's possible to have three of it. If you can have three of it, you can say "a number of X," or "Many Xs." You will be better off than many of my authors, who seem to have much difficulty with this.
* Yes, oh dear pedantic ones, we can count grains of rice. But then the grains are countable, and the rice is simply modifying the grains. In Latin, "rice" would be in the genetive, and it would all be much clearer. I mentioned the "grains = countable" thing in the introduction. Do pay attention!