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Consider a few sentences:

  1. I read a lot.
  2. ?I read much.
  3. I don't read a lot.
  4. I don't read much.
  5. Do you read much?

This seems to suggest "much" is a negative polarity item, but then we can say things like "Much of it has to do with you not being here." So how much of a negative polarity item is "much"?

I am particularly interested in existing literature on this.

Edwin Ashworth
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desmo
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    Yes, that suggests it, but that's all. I think Arnold Zwicky has written on the topic. It's just changing now and isn't in a particularly regular situation. There are hundreds of idioms in which the quantifiers figure without negation, and probly even more with negation. Certainly the ambiguity of a lot has weakened the non-idiomatic uses of much and many, but without a complete survey, one can't say much. – John Lawler Aug 16 '23 at 17:01

1 Answers1

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Some examples using the quantifier version of much in non-negative contexts one can find on the internet are:

  • Now there was much grass in the place. John 6:10; Berean Standard Bible; Bible Hub (sounds archaic nowadays; often used thus in various Bible translations)

  • 'There was much excitement over a message in a bottle' is a limited edition print of a watercolour painting by Julia Pamely (sounds more reasonable)

  • There was much cheering and singing, and a bread fight had broken out across the dining hall. Quora (sounds appropriate for literature evoking a bygone era)

  • Afterwards, there was much slapping of broad backs. (again, evoking a bygone era)

  • There has been much discussion over this issue. (sounds formal but not dated)

  • It seems, not long ago, there was much talk about the discovery of ... (ditto; 'debate' collocates similarly)

  • There was much noise. (sounds pretentious)

  • ... there was much money in the chest (sounds outlandish).

I'd agree that 'much' doesn't mandate a negative context, but that one needs to be careful when one uses it in a positive context. Very careful.

Edwin Ashworth
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