Grammar: How much/how many?

How many squares are there in the picture?

 

We can use how many and how much when we want to ask questions about quantity? We use many for countable, plural nouns, and much for uncountable, singular nouns.

How many buses are there?       How many people are there?     How much traffic is there?     How much furniture is there?

Remember, we use are there for countable, plural nouns, and is there for uncountable, singular nouns.

We use a lot of/ lots of and some to talk about quantity and amounts of countable and uncountable nouns.

How much money is there?

There is a lot of money/ There is lots of money
 

There is some money

How many ducks are there?

There are a lot of ducks/ There are lots of ducks

There are some ducks

When we have very small amounts, we can make positive or negative sentences.

With uncountable nouns, we say:
There is a little money.               There isn't much money.

With countable nouns, we say:
There are a few ducks.               There aren't many ducks.

We use a little/ not much with uncountable nouns. We use a few/not many with countable nouns.

There is a little money. There isn't much money

There are a few ducks. There aren't many ducks.

 

Here are some exercises to practise:
1. https://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/elementary/a_grammar/file07/grammar07_b01?cc=us&selLanguage=en
2. https://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/elementary/a_grammar/file07/grammar07_b02?cc=us&selLanguage=en
3. https://elt.oup.com/student/result/engelem/a_grammar/unit06/6d_1?cc=gb&selLanguage=en
4. https://elt.oup.com/student/result/engelem/a_grammar/unit06/6d_2?cc=gb&selLanguage=en

Remember, we also use how much to ask about price.
How much is the bread? It's £1.20
How much are the tomatoes? They're 80p.

We can also use the verb cost and make a present simple question. Be careful with do/does:
How much does the bread cost? It costs £1.20
How much do the tomatoes cost? They cost 80p