Do I understand correctly ‘too much’, ‘too many’

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First rule called ‘countable’ and ‘uncountable’.

  1. Use too much if uncountable i.e money, water.

  2. Use too many if countable i.e dollar, table.

And second rule called bad and good.

  1. If say I have too much time I mean I have too much free time and I do not know what to do with it.

  2. And I say I have a lot of time I mean I have too much free time and I do know that to do with it or I just enjoy.

Do I understand correctly?

Answer

The first part of your question is exactly right: too much money, too much water, too many dollars, too many lakes.

As for “I have too much time” – by itself, that means something like, “I have so much free time I don’t know what to do with it.” So, I’d say that part of your question is correct as well.

The last part is where things get dicey. “I have a lot of time” (which could also be phrased as “I have plenty of time”) generally means “I have a lot of available time,” and that could be for any number of reasons – it’s context dependent. I would think that any of these questions or comments could be answered with, “Yes, I have a lot of time”:

  • Thanks for helping me fix this lawn mower; do you have enough time to help me fix the wagon, too? (In other words, Do you have any remaining available time right now?)

  • I was wondering if we could set up a meeting sometime next week. (In other words, Sometime in the future, will you have a block of available time?)

  • Our football team needs a treasurer for the upcoming season. Could you volunteer? (In other words, Do you have enough available time that you could take on some short-term responsibility?)

  • Could you take on a second part-time job in the evenings? (In other words, Does your schedule have enough free time that you could take on another activity on a regular basis for the foreseeable future?)

And then there’s the context you mentioned, where the answer might be “No, I have a lot of [free] time”:

  • Are you so busy right now that your life is just completely hectic?

So, “I have a lot of time” can mean several things, depending on the context.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Mediator , Answer Author : J.R.

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