These two very common words are frequently confused in everyday speech. Here is a helpful guide to help you avoid this confusion.

Many

When we use 'many' or 'too many', the subject of our sentence should be plural. Anything that follows the word 'many' should be a number of things more than 1. Be careful with collective nouns, like 'stuff', for example. You should never say 'too many stuff', because 'stuff' is singular. We also don't say 'too much people' - we say 'too many people'.

Examples

• Well, there are many ways to promote this product. We just have to decide which one is best.
• I've been up and down this road many times. Don't worry, I know where I'm going.
• We just had to break up. We had too many arguments and it was getting exhausting.
• No! I've told him too many times now. I'm not telling him again!

You can also use 'many' or 'too many' at the end of a sentence. You do this when you are implying that you're talking about something plural. In the context of the conversation, people would already know what you mean.

Examples

• I think I'll give some of these books to charity. I just have too many!
• It shouldn't take you long to sort through those files. I don't think there are many.
• Why do you have all these ornaments in your house? There are way too many!