much

Hi, Ahmed.A.A,

@Ahmed.A.A posted:

Hi is the following sentence OK:

''Much of people's creative ideas can be turned later into successful businesses.''

No, it isn't. It should be 'Many / A lot of .....ideas'. OR 'Much of .....thinking'.

Thanks Ahmed; yet this sentence is in a school book, ''Teacher's Guide for Year 3 Secondary.''

@Ahmed.A.A posted:

''Much of people's creative ideas can be turned later into successful businesses.''

Hi, Ahmed.A.A and Ahmed_btm,

I think that noun phrase can be used to express "much of what people's creative ideas consist of," or "much of what people's creative ideas express," rather than to refer to those ideas as individual elements.

We can find a few examples on the Internet:

- Further, it was clear that much of people's ideas about brain surgery derived from material they had encountered in television or films (The brain in society: Public engagement with neuroscience, by Cliodhna O'Connor)

- Ruth says ‘It is always a challenge for us to create dance that is real to life and relevant—so much of people’s ideas about dance comes from the media or from free worship...' (Source: https://www.theology.ox.ac.uk/file/330561)

Unfortunately, many of the examples I found incorrectly combine "much of people's ideas," which is singular, with a plural verb.

Thanks Gustavo, do you mean that these two previous examples, you have quoted from the internet, are incorrect too?

No. In those two examples singular "much" correctly agrees with the verb in the singular.

But ''much'' shouldn't be used with countable nouns like ''ideas''. So I want to know why those two examples are correct?

Hi, Ahmed.A.A and Gustavo,

@Ahmed.A.A posted:

Thanks Ahmed; yet this sentence is in a school book, ''Teacher's Guide for Year 3 Secondary.''

You should have told us the source of your question in the first place, Ahmed. I have just found a readable copy of the book and downloaded it. The question gives us two choices 'much / little'.

- (Much / Little) of people's creative ideas can be turned later into successful businesses. The model answer is 'much'.

@Ahmed.A.A posted:

But ''much'' shouldn't be used with countable nouns like ''ideas''. So I want to know why those two examples are correct?

As I have pointed out in my first reply, I think that it is better to go with 'a lot of / most of / many of' here. However, Gustavo has a good point here. He sees that there might be an ellipsis or another implied meaning. See the difference between these two examples:

a) Much of (what) people's creative ideas (express) is going to be turned ....

b) Many of people's creative ideas are going to be turned....

The problem is that if you use 'much' with this meaning, 'little' can be used in the same way, but with a different meaning. Further context should be provided.

Thanks a lot Ahmed