much, many, a lot of, lots of

Richard St.John was on his way to the TED conference when a girl on the plane asked him, “What really leads to success?” Even though he had achieved some success, he couldn’t explain how he did it.

So he spent the next ten years researching success and asking over 500 extraordinarily successful people in many fields what helped them succeed. After analyzing, he discovered the 8 traits successful people have in common and wrote the bestseller “8 To Be Great”.

SkyEng

1. We use much with singular uncountable nouns and many with plural nouns:
   Now you might have many ideas how to have much success in learning the English language.
   Теперь у вас, наверняка, много идей, как добиться больших успехов в изучении английского языка.
2. When we use much and many in negative questions, we are usually expecting that a large quantity of something isn’t there.
   Isn’t there much effort needed to improve language skills? (The speaker expects there is little effort needed).
   Разве нужно много усилий, чтобы улучшить языковые навыки? (Говорящий, уверен, что нужно мало усилий).
3. In informal styles, we prefer to use lots of or a lot of. Also when we use a lot of and lots of in negative questions, we are usually expecting a large quantity of something.
   Isn’t there a lot of effort needed to improve language skills? (The speaker expects there is much effort needed).
   Разве не нужно много усилий, чтобы улучшить языковые навыки? (Говорящий, уверен, что нужно много усилий).
4. We also can leave out the noun after much, many and a lot, lots.
   To speak English fluently, one has to work a lot.
   Чтобы заговорить на английском свободно, нужно много работать