Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word:
__________ English books do you have?
a) How many
b) How some
c) How much
d) How any

Answer 1

Hint: When we use the phrase “How much” and “how many”, we try to find out the quantity of something. How much is used for nouns which are uncountable for example, oil, water, etc. How many is used for countable nouns, for example, chocolates, marbles, books, etc.

Complete answer:
Option a is “how many”. Since the subject of the sentence is books which are countable, we have to use “how many”. Thus, it is the correct answer. How many English books do you have?
Option b is “how some”. The phrase “how some” does not signify the inquiry about any quantity. It is wrong in the English language to use “how some” together. Even if we do have to use “How some” in a sentence, we use a word between them. For example, How do some people never finish their work on time? It is the wrong answer.
Option c is “how much” which is used before uncountable nouns. How much of the oil is left? How much paint do we need for the walls? Oil and paint are uncountable nouns. Since books are countable, option c is incorrect.
Option d is “how any” which is not used together in the English language. It is the wrong option. The word “any” is used individually. For example, do we have any volunteers for the work?

Note:
We have to see if the subject is countable or uncountable. Remember that sometimes some objects can be tricky. For example, bread is uncountable but slices of bread are countable. So note the countability of the noun carefully.