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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Much or A lot of?
Much or A lot of?
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customer
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Much or A lot of?
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Dear colleagues, I was wondering... I never eat MUCH meat or I never eat A LOT OF meat? Do I consider the semtence affirmative or negative? Thanks for your help! |
14 Dec 2020
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lillianschild
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NEVER is a non-assertive form, so the fact that the verb is affirmative doesn�t matter. In other words, the meaning of the statement is negative. Both "much" and "a lot of" are possible; the latter being more informal.
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14 Dec 2020
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colbertine
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Here is the REAL RULE, according to the textbooks from various British editors and the one I have learnt in England and I teach my students: positive sentence: A LOT negative and question with an UNCOUNTABLE word: much negative and question with a COUNTABLE word: many Nevertheless, it is common to find " a lot" in a negative sentence and many/much in a positive sentence, but this is only everyday colloquial English. The real rule is as I mentioned above. And obviously you will find this more colloquial and accepted form very often but this doesn�t mean it is correct. |
15 Dec 2020
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lillianschild
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Here�s a clarification. As I mentioned in my previous post, both MUCH and MANY can be used in affirmative sentences but only in formal style- LOTS OF and A LOT are used in informal everyday speech.
Scroll down to the "A lot of, lots of with a noun" section to find the corroboration of what I said in my previous post and repeated here.
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16 Dec 2020
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