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As many as / as much as

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by Davy03 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:30 am
I already know that I must use "much" with uncountable noun and that I must use "many" with countable ones.

But what if you put "15 percent" between "much/many" and the noun?

Does it still depend on the noun?

According to MGMAT, you have to write "as much as 15 percent of the population". I got the question right, but it was because I was thinking that I had to write "as much as" because of the "15 percent", not because of the uncountable noun (the population).

So does that mean that I have to write "as many as 15 percent of my girlfriends" for instance, since girlfriends are countable?

"As much as 15 percent of my girlfriends" sounds better to me.
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by sumanr84 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:08 am
Davy03 wrote:I already know that I must use "much" with uncountable noun and that I must use "many" with countable ones.

But what if you put "15 percent" between "much/many" and the noun?

Does it still depend on the noun?

According to MGMAT, you have to write "as much as 15 percent of the population". I got the question right, but it was because I was thinking that I had to write "as much as" because of the "15 percent", not because of the uncountable noun (the population).

So does that mean that I have to write "as many as 15 percent of my girlfriends" for instance, since girlfriends are countable?

"As much as 15 percent of my girlfriends" sounds better to me.
population is a quantity; ofcourse, in its a number, but population is only one thing. what I mean is you don't have populations as in the case of girl frens. you can count girl frens but not population. You can count the number of people that constitutes Population ( but not population itself). Therefore, you can only refer to a part of population by using "as much as 15%".

Do I make sense to you ?
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by Davy03 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:13 am
sumanr84 wrote:
Davy03 wrote:I already know that I must use "much" with uncountable noun and that I must use "many" with countable ones.

But what if you put "15 percent" between "much/many" and the noun?

Does it still depend on the noun?

According to MGMAT, you have to write "as much as 15 percent of the population". I got the question right, but it was because I was thinking that I had to write "as much as" because of the "15 percent", not because of the uncountable noun (the population).

So does that mean that I have to write "as many as 15 percent of my girlfriends" for instance, since girlfriends are countable?

"As much as 15 percent of my girlfriends" sounds better to me.
population is a quantity; ofcourse, in its a number, but population is only one thing. what I mean is you don't have populations as in the case of girl frens. you can count girl frens but not population. You can count the number of people that constitutes Population ( but not population itself). Therefore, you can only refer to a part of population by using "as much as 15%".

Do I make sense to you ?
Yes, thank you for your answer.

But what I was wondering about is if the rule still applies even if you put "15 percent" between the "much/many" and the countable/uncountable noun.
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by sumanr84 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:12 am
Davy, I got it what you mean to say,
Your question is whether 15% can be used with many or not.

IMO, I don't think many usage can go well with percent notation. It should always be "more than 15%" in any case.
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by tomada » Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:42 am
I, too, believe that "as much as 15% of my girlfriends" is correct. Conversely, I believe that "as many as 3 of my girlfriends" would be correct. '3' is countable and, while 15% represents a countable number of girlfriends, it's not countable in of itself.
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by Davy03 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:05 pm
Thank you for your answers guys.

The real question is indeed: do you write "As much as 15 percent of my girlfriends" or "as many as 15 percent of my girlfriends"?

I also believe that because of the "15 percent", the girlfriends become uncountable because they become an amount.

By the way, it was question 8 in the Manhattan GMAT CAT test #2:

"Poor weather in early 14th-century Europe created meager harvests, causing the result of mass starvation in some areas and the elimination of as many as 15 percent of the population."
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by monge1980 » Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:34 am
Davy03 wrote:Thank you for your answers guys.

The real question is indeed: do you write "As much as 15 percent of my girlfriends" or "as many as 15 percent of my girlfriends"?

I also believe that because of the "15 percent", the girlfriends become uncountable because they become an amount.

By the way, it was question 8 in the Manhattan GMAT CAT test #2:

"Poor weather in early 14th-century Europe created meager harvests, causing the result of mass starvation in some areas and the elimination of as many as 15 percent of the population."
Hi guys, I would appreciate a clear explanation on this topic.

Let simplify things in four cases:
1- as much/many as 15% of [countable]
2- as much/many as 15% of [uncountable]
3- as much/many as 3 of [countable]
4- as much/many as 3 of [uncountable]

Can some expert comment the four cases?
Thanks a lot,
monge
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