Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mulligc3]

I'm teaching uncountable nouns at the moment.
Work is uncountable,so we say I have too much work to do or I have a little work to do.
Is I have much work to do wrong?
I would stick the too in before the much but too doesn't always accompany much.eg...
Do you have much money ?
Answer would be, Yes, I have some.

But is , Yes, I have much wrong.

Thanks for the help!!

[some waygug-in]

I think it's one of those "grammatically correct" things that native speakers would never say.

We would never say, "I have much work to do".

We would say, "I have a lot of work to do".


Don't ask me why.

[blackjack]

much used for uncountable negatives and questions
many used for countable negatives and questions

a lot of used for positives (I have noticed this is not quite as true as it once was)

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[kinerry]

I have a lot of work to do
OR
I have too much work to do.

[Perceptioncheck]

From what I've read in books, it wasn't an unpopular thing to say earlier in the 20th century. "Come, child, we have much work to do!" sounds okay to me; a little archaic to be sure, but still okay.

Who knows why it's fallen out of favour? Not me.

Can I source that? No, I can't.

[blackjack]

[The Cosmic Hum]

[The Gipkik]

There is so much to do. I have much to do. These sound like slightly antiquated poetic contractions and probably function as idiomatic phrases, but I can't see them being inherently incorrect as they're perfectly comprehensible in a tight and economic way--which I always advocate. I'd encourage your students to use them, but let them know that the grammar police may be watching and listening. Especially the strident ones with red pens.

[Cerberus]

yeah, it's correct.

but as noted, quaint sounding and rarely used.

I have a lot of work to do is the most common expression.

[some waygug-in]

I gotta whole lotta work to do!!!!

I've got lotsa work to do!!!!!!!!!



Like someone said before, we generally use "much" in questions,

Do you have much work to do?

or in emphatic statements,

I have too much work to do.

I have so much work to do.

Generally in declarative statements we would say "lots of" or "a lot of".

In negative statements we use either;

I don't have much work to do.

I don't have a lot of work to do.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

"We have much work to do" does have a Victorian sound to it. I teach some teachers and often hear much older Koreans say things that I would call grammatical but out of date -- or even military, such as using "staffs" all the time. It may be that some of these people were taught with English books from Japan long ago, which in turn used conservative British usages.

[Privateer]

The rule is 'much' is only used in questions and negatives but not positive statements. This does not apply if it is modified by an adverb as with 'so much' or 'very much' but you can leave that for another lesson.

Examples:

'Is there much left to do?' - ok
'We don't have much time.' - ok
'I have much work' - X

Generally, I try to convince my students to stick with 'a lot of' or 'lots of' instead as no such restrictions apply, but it's a hard habit for them to break.

[Privateer]

[Privateer]