Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: many / a lot of

Quale di queste due frasi è corretta?
"I had many letters yesterday."
"I had a lot of letters yesterday."
Secondo il test da cui l'ho tratta, è giusta la seconda.
Non capisco però perché non è corretta anche la prima. 
E' il quesito n. 15 del test 1A
http://www.penguinreaders.com/downloads/PRTGplacetests.pdf
-- 
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 Non capisco però perché non è corretta anche la prima.
Perché "many" viene utilizzato normalmente nelle frasi negative e
interrogative, non in quelle affermative.
-- 
Mary

 interrogative, non in quelle affermative.
mmm... mi stravolgi un po' le idee...
vediamo un po'...
"There are so many things I'd like to tell you"
č una frase sbagliata questa?
si dovrebbe dire "there are a lot of things I'd like to tell you"?

interrogative, non in quelle affermative.
Maybe in good British English, but not where I live.  
In my opinion both are correct.
What I don't like in that sentence is the use of "had".  I would have said "I
received many letters yesterday".
bye
Ari

 received many letters yesterday".
Va bene in inglese GB.
-- 
Mary


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Thanks :)
And the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary agrees with you! 
Though, they say there is an exception to that rule in more formal
English, where "many" in affirmative sentences is also possible.
many
	used with plural nouns and verbs, especially in negative sentences or 
in more formal English, to mean ‘a large number of’. Also used in 
questions to ask about the size of a number, and with ‘as’ and ‘too’:
We don’t have very many copies left. • You can’t have one each. We 
haven’t got many. • Many people feel that the law should be changed. • 
Many of those present disagreed. • How many children do you have? • 
There are too many mistakes in this essay. • He made ten mistakes in 
as many (= in ten) lines. • New drivers have twice as many accidents 
as experienced drivers. • I’ve known her for a great many (= very 
many) years. • Even if one person is hurt that is one too many. • It 
was one of my many mistakes. • a many-headed monster
	2	(the many) used with a plural verb to mean ‘most people’:
a government which improves conditions for the many
	3	(many a) (formal) used with a singular noun and verb to mean ‘a 
large number of’:
Many a good man has been destroyed by drink.
 IDIOMS 
	as many as … used to show surprise that the number of people or 
things involved is so large:
There were as many as 200 people at the lecture.
	have had one too many (informal) to be slightly drunk
	many’s the … (formal) used to show that sth happens often:
Many’s the time I heard her use those words.
______________________________
 WHICH WORD? 
many / a lot of / lots of
Many is used only with countable nouns. It is used mainly in questions 
and negative sentences: Do you go to many concerts? • How many people 
came to the meeting? • I don't go to many concerts. Although it is not 
common in statements, it is used after so, as and too: You made too 
many mistakes.
In statements a lot of or lots of (informal) are much more common: I 
go to a lot of concerts. • ‘How many CDs have you got?’ ‘Lots!’ 
However, they are not used with measurements of time or distance: I 
stayed in England many/quite a few/ten weeks. • I stayed in England a 
lot of weeks. When a lot of/lots of means ‘many’, it takes a plural 
verb: Lots of people like Italian food. You can also use plenty of 
(informal): Plenty of stores stay open late. These phrases can also be 
used in questions and negative sentences.
A lot of/lots of is still felt to be informal, especially in BrE, so 
in formal writing it is better to use many or a large number of in 
statements.
-- 
[E' possibile visualizzare correttamente tutti i caratteri in questo 
post leggendolo con un reader compatibile Unicode]

 In my opinion both are correct.
Dici che in American English si usa tranquillamente many / much anche
in tutte le frasi affermative?
Quindi diresti anche
"I have many books."
"We had much rain yesterday."
?
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 tipo "I have many books".
Anche per "much" c'è una regola simile, vero?
Altro esempio dal test
"We had much rain yesterday."     NO
"We had a lot of rain yesterday."   YES
Il fido Oxford Adv. L.  afferma
much
used with uncountable nouns, especially in negative sentences to mean
"a large amount of sth", or after "how" to ask about the amount of
sth. It is also used with "as", "so" and "too".
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 stayed in England many/quite a few/ten weeks. . I stayed in England a
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AmEng Joe here.
"Many" can be used in the affirmative completely correctly.
(With apologies to MaryC; I'm speaking of American English: less formal 
than British.)
The original phrase is *slightly* awkward, however acceptable if one is 
speaking a bit formally. "I had a lot of letters" is much more 
colloquial.
"I have many books" is perfectly fine, but the "Average Joe" would say "a 
lot of", "lots of", "a ton of", or (excuse me, please) "a sh*tload of"
Ciao e BBFN
-- 
Un-not my address if you wanna reply.

 "So many" va bene nelle frasi affermative, comunque.
hai ragione... ho appena controllato... già già già :)
anche "too much/too many" sono affermative
controllando controllando mi accorgo che non avevo mai sentito frasi del
tipo
"There are far too many people in the shop"
cioè che many può essere preceduto da far.
ma a che pro?

 tipo "I have many books".
Che č sbagliata? Cado davvero dalle nuvole... (faccina stupita)
Sapevo la stessa cosa per "much", ma non per "many". 
Leggo da altri messaggi che "I have many books" č corretto e un po' formale
(anche in British English). Suppongo, dato che non mi suona affatto, che "I
have much water" sia invece sbagliato in ogni contesto, innit?
Suppongo, altresě, che sia "much" sia "many" siano corretti nelle frasi
interrogative, giusto? Mentre, invece, "a lot of" (o "lots of") nelle frasi
interrogative non mi pare vada bene, rigiusto?
Ciao, FB

 ma a che pro?
"Di gran lunga" dovrebbe significare; mi sembra del tutto comune.
Ciao, FB

 tipo "I have many books".
Guarda caso, qui:
http://www.comics.com/comics/bornloser/index.html
nella vignetta del 27/3 si dice: "There's much to be said for canine
companionship". Come lo giudichi?
Ciao, FB


Questa mi giunge nuova! (no sarcasm)
Puo' darsi benissimo che ci sia una regola, ma io non la conosco e non l'ho mai
sentita.  So che esiste la stessa regola per "much" ma non per "many".  Ti
posso garantire che "I have many books" e' una frase correttissima in American
English.  Infatti, e' preferibile a "I have a lot of books".
Ho cercato su google la frase "there are many" che non e' ne' negativa, ne'
inerrogativa ed ho trovato 7.260.000 documenti contenenti quelle tre parole.  
Basta leggere un articolo, un libro o sentire un programma televisivo americano
(e veramente molti in questo NG guardano piu' TV americana di me) per rendersi
conto che many e' usato in qualunque tipo di frase.
Comunque ripeto che la mia conoscenza dell'inglese e' limitata all'inglese che
si parla in California quindi sappiatevi regolare.
ciao
Ari

We had much rain yesterday."
No, much segue la regola che e' stata discussa, although "we had much rain
yesterday" doesn't sound incorrect, just very formal.
bye
ari

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news:4064C453...@privacy.net...
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It is? I didn't know that. I hope there aren't a lot of rules like
that. How about if the letters were many and various?
:-) Cheers
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