"much" vs. "a lot of"

[Dan Goncharoff]

Isn't "much" an adverb and "a lot of" adjectival?

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 5, 2014, at 5:14 PM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "much" vs. "a lot of"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A friend (born 1940s and remained in Boston area) remarked that she
> would say "we have a lot of snow in New England" but not "we have
> much snow in New England".  So would I (NYC).  We wondered about
> that, about other verbs and objects, and negatives vs. positives.  Such as:
>
> "I have a lot of coffee."
> "I don't drink much coffee"
>
> Has there been any analysis?  Is "much' vs. "a lot of" regional?
>
> Joel (who does not possess the usual reference books, and is
> momentarily possessed by snow).
>
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