much / many / few

RuleCountable nouns take many and (a) few; uncountable nouns take much and (a) little.

Curiosity

"many information" or "much information"? "few water" or "little water"? How do you match quantity words to nouns?

Intuition

Split nouns into two groups: countable (1 book, 2 books) and uncountable (water, information). Each group has its own quantity words.

Visualization

See the parts: "much" with the uncountable noun and "many" with the countable plural are highlighted. The relation: "much + uncountable / many + countable."

Countability decides which quantity word to use.

There isn'tmuchinformation,but there aremanyreports

Essence

Countable: many, (a) few, fewer. Uncountable: much, (a) little, less. Both: a lot of, some, any, plenty of. Common TOEIC uncountables: information, equipment, advice, furniture, luggage, news, research, staff.

Examples

We don't have much time before the deadline.

Few applicants met all the requirements.

She gave me a little advice.

Mini-quiz

"There isn't ___ furniture in the new office." Which fits?