Difference Between Much and Many
The words ‘much’ and ‘many’ in English are confused as they are wrongly interchanged with each other’s place. There is difference between the two words. Both the words qualify a noun and thus are adjectives. ‘Much’ qualifies an uncountable noun. See the example,
He has done much work.
I would give you much help.
We see in the above example that the words ‘much’ and ‘help’ are uncountable nouns.
‘Many’ is an adjective qualifying a countable noun. See the example,
She presented her younger brother many gifts.
He has many books of stories.
In the other examples the word ‘many’ is used with the nouns ‘books’ and ‘gifts’ which are countable nouns. We can safely conclude that ‘many’ is used with countable nouns while ‘much’ is used with uncountable nouns. This is the main difference between the two. Sometime ‘much’ is followed by ‘of’, for example,
Much of the work has been done by him.
‘Many’ may also be followed by ‘of’. For example,
Many of the gifts were given by her sister.
Often ‘many’ and ‘much’ are preceded by ‘very’ which is an adverb. It is used to lay emphasis. See the examples,
She loved him very much.
He said to her very many congratulations.
Thus, we see the clear difference between ‘much’ and ‘many’.