How
much
many days till Christmas?

Filed Under Grammar (文法), numbers, plural | 1 Comment

How much days till Christmas? Sounds stange to a native English speaker. But, this could be used by a non-native speaker. Non-native speakers often have difficulty using much and many in sentences. So let’s take a look at trying to explain when to use much and when to use many.

First, the explanation:

much is used for non-countable items.
many is used for countable items.

Second, some examples:

How much tea should I use to make tea. or
How many tea leaves should I use to make tea.

How much money do I need to go on vacation?
How many dollars should I take on vacation?

How many flowers do I need to make an arrangment?
How much water do I need to put into the vase?

Oh, by the way, if you use much in the title instead of many, you would say “How much time time until Christmas?”

Popularity: 54%

Aug

5

singular vs. plural

Filed Under plural | Leave a Comment

I was riding the train in Tokyo the other day, and saw this sign inside the train.

It is kind of hard to read, but the English reads

Getting off the train between station is dangerous. If it becomes absolutely necessary to do so, please watch out for other trains, watch your step and follow the instructions of the railway staff.

Even my Japanese students said the Japanese is kind of strange too. But anyway, can you spot the one grammatical mistake in this sentence. It should read,
Getting off the train between stations…
Don’t forget to add s to plurals.

Popularity: 37%