Hi everyone,
what is correct: How much clothes do you have? or How many clothes do you have?
Thanks in advance
many/much clothes
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fluffyhamster
- Posts: 3031
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- Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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fluffyhamster
- Posts: 3031
- Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
- Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
Actually I've just been Googling a bit and can see that there are a fair number of "how much clothes" examples floating around, which would rather seem to blur the 'plural noun' label in dictionaries.
That is, is there really that much dividing 'clothes' from 'clothing' conceptually if not grammatically (and certainly in terms of apparent usage)? I mean, one is plural and the other , but "how much clothes" could simply be one person's way of saying "how much clothing" (or indeed "how many clothes").
Anyway, at least we probably don't (yet!) say "how many clothing(s)", but I suppose I should really check what's out there in Googleland before offering any potentially false certainties and hopes!
BUT in the immediate context that you gave, Luba, I guess that 99.99% of English teachers would still recommend that you use 'How many clothes (items of clothing) do you have?', if for no other reason than it helps makes sense of/remains consistent with what the dictionary and grammar book labels say at a "basic" level at least. Which explains my first reply above.
That is, is there really that much dividing 'clothes' from 'clothing' conceptually if not grammatically (and certainly in terms of apparent usage)? I mean, one is plural and the other , but "how much clothes" could simply be one person's way of saying "how much clothing" (or indeed "how many clothes").
Anyway, at least we probably don't (yet!) say "how many clothing(s)", but I suppose I should really check what's out there in Googleland before offering any potentially false certainties and hopes!
BUT in the immediate context that you gave, Luba, I guess that 99.99% of English teachers would still recommend that you use 'How many clothes (items of clothing) do you have?', if for no other reason than it helps makes sense of/remains consistent with what the dictionary and grammar book labels say at a "basic" level at least. Which explains my first reply above.
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fluffyhamster
- Posts: 3031
- Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
- Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
O-M-G. "How many clothing" gets over 50,000 Google hits (a fair number immediately precede 'items', but then, a fair number don't!), and even "how many clothings" gets over 3,500 (still, a lot of those seem written by key-slap-happy semi-illiterates or non-natives).
Which is all perhaps another way of indicating if not outright saying that people might like to stick (or at least try to!) to whatever grammar guidance is available!
Which is all perhaps another way of indicating if not outright saying that people might like to stick (or at least try to!) to whatever grammar guidance is available!