Grammar Question: Many/Much, Fish and Aspirin?

Question

Which question is correct? How many fish do you have? or How much fish do you have? and I know the plural of Aspirin is Aspirins but I saw this question in a book, "How many Aspirin do you have?" shouldn't it be, "How many Aspirins do you have?" or "How much Aspirin do you have?

Answer 1

Both seem gramattically correct, but I'm not an English major....The first one, "how many fish do you have?" seems better, though. Also, "how many Aspirin do you have for me?" I would guess, English is the toughest language to master, that many words aren't pluralized, maybe aspirin is one of them, maybe it's apirini? lol

Answer 2

If you are talking about, say, fish in your aquarium the correct expression is 'how many fish do you have'. However, if you meet a friend on the way home from the fish market with some fish for supper, you might say 'how much fish have you brought'

So far as the drug you mention is concerned, I have heard the plural with and without the 's' and this is confirmed as correct by Collins Dictionary. I agree it should be 'how much aspirin do you have' or 'how many aspirins do you have'. No 's' after 'much', but yes you need one after 'many'

Answer 3

Both "how many fish do you have?" and "how much fish do you have?" are grammatically correct, but the answers are different. The answer to "how many fish do you have?" needs to be a number (for instance, "5 fish") but the answer to "how much fish do you have?" needs to be a weight (for instance, "4 pounds of fish").

I think that the plural of "aspirin" can be either "aspirin" or "aspirins", actually, so all three of those questions are okay.

Answer 4

I think the correct answer to the first one is:"How many fish do you have?" As a rule, you use "many" if it can be counted. You use much if it cannot be counted physically. However, in the case of money, you use "MUCH".

Likewise, it's correct to say " How many aspirins do you have?" or "How many Aspirin tablets do you have"?

Answer 5

Fish = food || then it's uncountable and we say "how much fish..?"
Fish = animals || it's countable, so we say "how many
fish(es)..?"
You can either say aspirin or aspirins, but it's "how many aspirins.." and "how much aspirin.."
Maybe it was a mistake

Answer 6

When you use words like much against many, it depends on what you have in mind. When you have in mind a quantity that can be counted, you say many. When you have in mind a quantity that can be measured you say much.
Like if you were asked how much fish, the answer will be something like five pounds of fish. But if you were asked how many fish, the answer would be like three fish.

Answer 7

The word "many" is used to describe something that is COUNTABLE. i.e. fish, aspirin, cars, pairs of shoes, etc.

On the other hand, "much" is used to describe something more abstract in numbers. i.e. when you ask someone "how much courage did you have before speaking in front of all those people?" "There are so much dirt on the bottom of your shoes." etc...

I hope that helps :)