Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[muscle5572]

I have a conversation book which is called side by side2.
It said " He didn't buy very much fish."
It looks like fish is none countable. If fish is countable noun then it should say "He didn't buy very many fish."
I'm confused. Is it ok to use both way?

[jumbonaut]

"fish" is a curious noun because it can mean a few things that are all very similar.

If the book was talking about fish in a sense of weight, then they are correct. If you went to the seafood counter of your grocery store and ask for 2 ounces of fish, they may cut you some off a large piece. The person at the counter might say, "2 ounces? You are not buying much fish."

However, if you ordered 6 sardines. They would put 6 individual fish in a bag and hand it to you. In this case, they might say "6 sardines? You aren't buying many fish."

In the first case, the number is not countable so it is okay to say "much". But the second case, the number is countable (6) so "many" would be the word of choice.
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Pat Mallon
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