PEMBELAJARAN XVIII : MEMBICARAKAN KUANTITAS ATAU JUMLAH BARANG (BESAR ATAU KECIL)

Berikut ini percakapan antara 2 (dua) orang karyawan toko yang sedang memeriksa persediaan barang makanan yang masih tersedia karena mereka perlu mencegah sedikit barang yang tinggal.
Pr. : How many eggs do we have?
Lk. : ehm.. about thirty boxes
Pr. : We don't need more eggs
Lk. : No
Pr. : How much milk do we have?
Lk. : Let's see, about forty bottles
Pr. : Right. We don't need more milk
need = memerlukan, more = lebih banyak, about = kurang lebih
We have a lot of eggs
We have a lot of milk
A lot of bisa dipakai untuk barang yang tidak dapat dihitung atau Uncountable Noun, milk misalnya, maupun untuk barang yang dapat dihitung atau Countable Noun, egg misalnya.
a box of eggs
a bottle of milk
a lot of biscuits
a lot of tomatoes
a lot of sugar
Percakapan Kedua sebagai berikut :
Pr. : Do we need more biscuits? How many do we have?
Lk. : ehm ..... We don't have many biscuits? Only five packets
Pr. : Right, so we need biscuits. Now, tea?
Lk. : We don't have much tea (mempunyai sedikit teh). Only seven packets
Pr. : Okey, tea. How about coffee?
Lk. : That's all right.We have a lot of  coffee
Pr. : And sugar?
Lk. : Let's see. Now, we don't have much sugar. We need more sugar.
Apakah yang akan mereka pesan? Biskuit, teh, dan gula
Pr. : How much tea do we have?
Lk. : We don't have much tea
Pr. : How much sugar do we have?
Lk. : We don't have much sugar.
Pertanyaan tentang berapa banyak benda/barang yang dapat dihitung dengan how many, sedangkan untuk yang tak dapat dihitung dengan how much. Demikan pula untuk kalimat berita/jawabnya..
How much sugar
How many eggs
We have a lot of eggs X We don't have many eggs
We don't have much sugar
We don't have many eggs
Pemerintah Inggris mengadakan survei tentang kebiasaan makan Keluarga/Orang Inggris. Apakah yang paling banyak dimakan oleh keluarga Orang Inggris. Untuk mengetahui apakah mereka mereka mempunyai kebiasaan makan yang baik, cocok dan bergizi.
Pr. : Tony, what do you eat? Do you eat much meat?
Lk. : Yes we eat a lot of meat
Pr. : How about fish?
Lk. : No, we don't eat much fish
Pr. : Do you eat much bread?
Lk. : Yes, we eat a lot
Pr. : ehm. and egg? Do you eat many eggs?
Lk. : No we don't eat many
Pr. : How about tea and coffee? Do you drink much coffee?
Lk. : No, we don't drink much
Pr. : And tea?
Lk. : oh, yes. We drink a lot of tea.
eat = makan/memakan, drink = minum/meminum
Do you drink much tea?
Do you drink much coffee?
Kebiasaan orang/keluarga Inggris
We eat a lot of meat
We eat a lot of bread
Bagaimana dengan ikan dan telur
We don't eat much fish
We don't eat many eggs
Jawaban Yes, gunakan a lot
Jawaban No, gunakan much atau many
Dalam bentuk pertanyaan :
Do you eat much meat? = Do you eat a lot of meat?
Do you eat many eggs? = Do you eat a lot of eggs?
Yang lebih baik/lazim digunakan yang pertama
eggs : Do you eat many eggs?
meat : Do you eat much meat?
biscuits : Do you eat many biscuits?
tomatoes : Do you eat many tomatoes?
bread : Do you eat much bread?
butter : Do you eat much butter?
Thok ...thok..thok (menegetuk pintu)
Pr. : Mr. Brown?
MB : oh ... yes
Pr. : I'm out of milk (susu sudah habis). Do you have any?
MB : I'm sorry. I only have a little
I only have a little milk = I don't have much milk.