英语：Many/much以及lots of/a lot of的用法

Many/much/lots of/a lot of的区别比较简单，单词many用于修饰可数名词，而much用于修饰不可数名词。短语lots of/a lot of既可用于可数名词，又可用于不可数名词。其实，在不同的场合中用法还是有一点小小区别的。

一般情况下，many/much更多用于疑问句和否定句中，而lots of/a lot of多用于肯定句中：

• There are lots of people in the street.—肯定句
• That is a lot of milk.—肯定句
• There aren’t many people in the street.—否定句
• How much milk do you want?” is a question. —否定句

不过，从语法的角度讲，下面的句子也没有问题：

• There are many people in the park.

但在口语中，更地道的说法应该是：

• There are lots of people in the park.

但是，在更正式的场合，我们更多地使用Many/much，而不是lots of/a lot of。比如，我们对朋友，一般会说

• There are lots of cars in the street.
• People have written a lot about it.

但上述两个句子在更正式的场合的说法会是：

• There were many cars in the street that day.
• Much has been written about it.