He got away from the noises of the city, which were becoming too____for him.
Which is the correct answer, many or much?
The way I consider it, ‘many’ may be used to respond to the plural form ‘noises’, while ‘too much’ means the noises were unbearable for the writer.
I’m confused.
Thanks.
Hello Ruifeng!
Interesting question.
‘Much’ is the expected answer there. The individual person is the one who found the noises too much. ‘Too much’ refers to the level of annoyance he feels.
Although not incorrect, there’s no reason to use the plural ‘noises’ there either. If it’s a test question then possibly it was done deliberately to trip someone up. “He got aweay from the noise (uncountable) of the city…” would work just as well.
‘Too many’ is possible, but this would throw a rather different nuance on the sentence, emphasising the amount and variety of the noises, rather than the level of annoyance. This would be far less likely to be used, making ‘much’ the best answer.
Though ‘much’ is the answer expected by the examiner because of the plural, an examinee is likely to be confused in view of the fact that ‘many’ is also possible as you have convincingly explained. So, I tend to treat the question as defective in the absence of the actual context.
It’s not defective, just a very good test of usage. ‘Much’ is the clear best answer.
Applicable only when there is also an alternate answer!
Well, I would have thought it was obvious that I am speaking about this particular case!
Yes, if there is more than one answer.
That doesn’t make any sense at all.
That’s not as nonsensical as you say! It is childish to proceed. LUSH! (Edited)
If you mean that my answer isn’t as nonsensical as yours, which is how your message reads, you’re quite right.
Otherwise I’m afraid it still doesn’t make sense. The thread should have stopped before message #5.
I agree with Bev. You don’t count the noises in order to find that there are too many of them. You don’t say “Last night I counted 95 noises coming from the street, I think there are too many of them”. The level of noise simply becomes too much to take or cope with. So, ‘too much’ is the only answer that makes sense here.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC short conversations: Summing up an interview[YSaerTTEW443543]