many
part of speech
determiner, pronoun (many, more, most)
meaning for a pupil
1) Many means a large number of things or people: many birds. tree →
2) «How many» asks for a number: How many cats do you have? tree →
3) «As many as» compares two equal numbers. tree →
4) «Too many» means more than is wanted; «so many» means a great number. tree →
5) (casual) Chatty talk says «loads», «heaps» (Australia, NZ), «tons», «a ton of», «lots», «a bunch of», «a load of», «a gazillion» instead of many. tree →
6) (casual) «How many he got then?» is broken grammar for «How many has he got?». tree →
7) (formal) The exam voice says «numerous», «a considerable number of», «a multitude of», «the number of», «what quantity of». tree →
sense in the lessons
in «how many», asking for a count; «how many more/fewer … than» asks for a difference; «twice as many» = multiply by 2; «as many as» = equal; in everyday life «so many», «too many», «many times»; «many happy returns» (happy birthday); in casual talk «heaps», «loads», «tons»; in the exam voice «Determine the number of …», «numerous», «a considerable number of»
examples
- How many cards does Zoe have now? tree →
- How many more stickers does Ali have than Mia? tree →
- Tom has twice as many pens as Sue. tree →
- Many children walk to school. tree →
- How many legs does a spider have? tree →
- There are too many toys on the floor. tree →
- I have read this book many times. tree →
- Sam has as many cards as Leo. tree →
- there's heaps of chips, take as many as ya want tree →
- how many he got left then? tree →
- I've told you a million times! tree →
- State the number of legs possessed by 3 spiders, each spider having 8 legs. tree →
- Many years passed by after this. tree →
note
«how many» alone asks for a number, not an operation; «determine the number of» in an exam asks the same. Trap: «how many more/fewer … than» asks for a difference; «twice as many» means multiply by 2. «many» goes with things you can count (many apples); «much» with things you cannot (much water). «heaps», «loads», «a million times» are vague: they mean «a lot», not an exact number. A spider has 8 legs.
In the corpora
- Job hunting means searching adverts and sending applications, often dozens before getting anywhere; many get no reply at all.
- One worker alone has little power, but many together are much harder to ignore.
- Many people are paid early in December, before Christmas, so January feels very long with the money already spent.
- Benefits are paid for by everyone's taxes as a safety net, and many families who work get some help too.
- Bailiffs can collect money owed only after a court decision and many warnings, under strict rules, and cannot take essentials.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «many» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.