Before doing this activity you may need to read the text you will find at the end
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| Gapped text | Items | 
|---|---|
| You need ______________________ chairs for all those people | many / much | 
| Is there ______________________ traffic on the road? | many / much | 
| I don't know ______________________ people in this town | many / much | 
| I don't have ______________________ sugar left | many / a lot of | 
| Do you know ______________________ people here? | much / many | 
| I will not be ______________________ time here | many / much | 
| Do we need ______________________ chairs? | much / many | 
| Have you got ______________________ brothers and sisters? | many / much | 
| We don't need ______________________ food, we're not hungry | much / many | 
| We need ______________________ time to complete this | a lot of / many | 
| ______________________ times do you go there? | How many / How much | 
| She doesn't know ______________________ people in this school | much / a lot of | 
| They need ______________________ books for school | a lot of / much | 
| He doesn't have ______________________ courage | much / many | 
| You need ______________________ water to fill in that tank | much / too much / very much / many | 
| Do you need ______________________ money? | many / much | 
| Did she win ______________________ money at the lottery? | lots of / many | 
| Kevin doesn't work ______________________ hours | very much / many / much | 
| My friend didn't want to drive ______________________, so we took the train | very much / many / too many | 
| ______________________ sugar do you like in your coffee? | How many / How much | 
| Have they got ______________________ children? | a lot of / much | 
| James doesn't eat ______________________ biscuits, that is Megan | lots of / much | 
| Do you usually have ______________________ tea for breakfast? | many / a lot of | 
| Do you usually put ______________________ cream in your coffee? | a lot of / many | 
| Have you got ______________________ petrol in the tank? | much / many | 
| There's not ______________________ petrol in the tank, we must fill it in | a lot of / many | 
| I have ______________________ friends in this city | much / a lot of | 
| They don't want to have ______________________ children | much / a lot of | 
| I bought ______________________ flowers for you | much / a lot of | 
| They don't want to have ______________________ children | much / many | 
| Do you need ______________________ time to finish that? | much / many | 
| I have ______________________ friends in Spain | much / very much / many | 
| Does he have ______________________ cars? | many / much | 
| She has ______________________ patience | many / a lot of | 
| ______________________ milk do you drink every day? | How much / How many | 
| I don't drink ______________________ coffee | many / much | 
| ______________________ people do you know? | How many / How much | 
| She drinks ______________________ coffee | much / many / too much | 
| I have ______________________ time to wait, so no problem | lots of / many | 
| George doesn't drink ______________________ wine, just a little | many / lots of | 
| There are ______________________ children in the garden | many / very much / much | 
| She works ______________________ hours | much / a lot of | 
| Do you spend ______________________ time playing computer games? | many / a lot of | 
| My father doesn't have ______________________ shoes | much / many | 
| ______________________ patience do I need? | How much / How many | 
| Don't drink ______________________ wine, it gets to your head | many / very much | 
| ______________________ food can I take? | How many / How much | 
| There are ______________________ flowers in the garden | lots of / much | 
| ______________________ apples can you eat in one day? | How much / How many | 
| ______________________ children have you got? | How much / How many | 
 MUCH/MANY WITH A NOUN
 MUCH/MANY WITH A NOUN
We use MUCH for uncountable nouns (singular) and MANY for countable nouns (plurals).
Both can be used in interrogative and negative sentences. MUCH is never used in positive sentences (but we can use "very/too much"). MANY can be used in affirmative sentences, but not often.
| + | - | ? | ||
| Plurals | (Many) | Many | Many | |
| singular | (very much) | Much | Much | |
|  | ||||
| Plurals | a lot | a lot | a lot | |
| singular | a lot | a lot | a lot | |
A LOT OF X, or more colloquially: LOTS OF X, can be used in any situation (countables, uncountables, interrogative, negative, affirmative).
I know many stories
There aren’t many children here
Have you got many brothers?
I drank too much coffee today
I don’t drink much water in the meals
Have you got much experience with this?
You must eat a lot of fruit
I don’t have a lot of friends here
Do you have a lot money?
 
  PLURALS
 PLURALS
 + I've got many friends / I've got a lot of friends
 - I haven't got many friends / I haven't got a lot of friends
 ? Have you got many friends? / have you got a lot of friends?
 SINGULAR
 SINGULAR
 + I've drunk very much coffee / I've drunk a lot of coffee
 - I haven't drunk (very) much tea / I haven't drunk a lot of tea
 ? have you drunk (very) much coffee? / have you drunk a lot of wine?
 COLLOQUIAL
 COLLOQUIAL
 I've got lots of friends
I don't need lots of things
have you drunk lots of coffee?
 The question is HOW MUCH? (singular) or HOW MANY? (plural)
 The question is HOW MUCH? (singular) or HOW MANY? (plural)
- How much coffee have you drunk? - A lot, maybe too much.
- How many people live in your house? - Not many, four.