Hi. My name is Emma, and today's lesson is on a very, very common grammar and vocabulary
mistake. So this is a mistake that both ESL students and native English speakers make.
So we are going to look at the words "a lot", "a lot", "a lot", and "lots". And also one
more that's not in the title, "a whole lot". Okay? So I hope you get a whole lot from this
So first we're going to cover the word "a lot". And notice that all of these words have
the same pronunciation, just different spelling. So "a lot". "A lot" is the same thing as "a
large number of". It can mean "many", "much". So it just means a big number. It can also
mean "often", but we'll get to that in a second.
So let's look at the first sentence. "I have furniture." So if I have a large number of
furniture, I could write "a lot". "I have a lot of furniture." Is this correct? There's
something I'm missing. "Of". Now this is one of the major mistakes ESL students make. They
always forget the "of" with "a lot". So when you have a noun like "furniture" or "books",
you need this. So remember, "a lot of something". Okay? Now, the word "furniture" is what is
called an "uncountable" noun. So this means we never have an "s" at the end of "furniture".
It's never "furnitures". It's always "furniture". Whether you have a lot or a little, it's always
"furniture". So whereas "books" is a "countable" noun. If you look, we have an "s". Anytime
we use "a lot", we need to pluralize if it's a "countable" noun.
So we have other videos on non-count and count nouns, which you can watch if this confuses
you. But the main point is that if you're using a non-count noun, you don't need an
"s" with "a lot of". If it's a count noun, you do need an "s". Okay? So, "I have a lot
of books", "I have a lot of furniture", "I have a lot of friends", "I have a lot of cats".
So it just means a big number. Now, the second way we use "a lot" is after
a verb. So in this case, we are describing the verb. So I have the sentence, "I swim
a lot". This just means "I swim often". So in this case, the word "a lot" really just
means "often". "I read often", "I drink tea often", "I paint", well not often, but I would
like to paint more, so "I'd like to paint often", "I'd like to paint a lot".
So one thing that you can also do is we have the word here "a lot", "a whole lot", and
"lots". How do these words come into our whole equation? Well, let's first start with "a
lot". Now, in this case, "a lot", it might look like this, but in this case, there's
a space here, and with this "a lot", there's no space. A lot of people accidentally write
this, so they write, "I have a lot". This is always wrong. There always has to be a
space here. If you don't see a space, this is definitely incorrect.
Now, we also have the word "a whole lot". "A whole lot", all we've done is we've taken
"a lot", and in the middle, we've added the word "whole". "A whole lot" just gives a greater
emphasis to something. So whereas before, I have a lot of furniture, if I say, "I have
a whole lot of furniture", that means even more. So it's just a way to emphasize that
you have a lot, a very big emphasis on a lot. "I have a whole lot of books." "I have a whole
lot of cats." That's not true, I'm not a cat lady, but, "I have a whole lot of fun at work."
So these are just some examples for "a whole lot".
We can also use it with a verb. "I swim a lot" means, "I swim often." "I swim a whole
lot" means, "I swim very often." So again, it's just used for emphasis.
And finally, "lots". So on a lot of the engVid comments I get, I'm asked about when to use
"lots" and when to use "a lot". So the truth is, these words mean the same thing. It's
just "lots" is informal, whereas "a lot" is a little bit more formal. So you can use either,
but "lots" is, again, informal. So in this example, "I have a lot of furniture." It's
also okay if I say, "lots". Again, I need, "I have a lot of furniture" or "I have lots
of furniture." They mean the same thing. "I have a lot of books." "I have lots of books."
So again, it means the exact same thing, just a little bit informal. And remember, just
like "a lot", if you have a noun following it, you need "of". So this is something, do
not forget. I better not see this mistake in your comments. Keep this in mind, "lots
of".
Okay, so next we are going to explain the word "a lot". So this is our verb "a lot".
So it's pronounced the exact same way again as what we've just looked at, but notice the
spelling. This is one word, so there's no space, and we have two "l"s instead of one.
So "to a lot", again, it's a verb, and it means "to assign, divide, or distribute".
So what do I mean by "assign, divide, or distribute"? Well, let's go through some examples to make
this a little clearer. So my first example, "She allotted five pieces of chocolate to
me and two to you." So again, it's past tense. I've doubled up the "t"s, and this means I
have seven pieces of candy, or seven pieces of chocolate. How do I divide it up? Or, sorry,
she has seven pieces of chocolate. How does she divide it up? Well, she gives five pieces
of chocolate to you, and she gives two pieces of chocolate to me. So think about dividing.
How do you split things up? How do you distribute things? Who gets what? This is what we mean
In my second example, "I allot most of my time to teaching English." So in a day, there
are 24 hours. How do you allot your time? Maybe you allot eight hours to sleep. A lot
of people do that. Maybe you only allot five hours. Maybe you allot eight hours to working.
In some countries, they allot maybe 10 hours to working. So in this case, we're talking
about the way we divide, or assign, or distribute our time. So that's what the word "a lot"
means in this case, with double "l".
So now what we're going to do is we're going to do some practice questions to see if you
really notice the difference between "a lot", "a lot", "a lot", "lots", and "a whole lot".
So I have here beside me a list of questions. Now, you'll notice that each question has
a blank. So what I want us to do together is to solve these questions. So take a moment
after each question, after I read it, to try to solve it yourself. Now, the answer is either
going to be "a lot", "a lot", "a lot", "lots", and if you want, "a whole lot". For some of
these questions, there are multiple answers, which means maybe you can use "a lot" and
"lots". There are different ways to be correct with the question. So let's get started.
So number one, "I have _______ of things to do today." Take a second. Do you think it's
"a lot", "a lot", "a lot", "lots"? The answer is "a lot". "I have a lot of things to do
today." For those of you who said "lots", that's also correct. And we could have also
said "a whole lot". Notice there's no "s" here. So three possible answers for this question.
"I have a lot", "lots", "a whole lot". Main thing to remember as well, regardless of which
Okay, number two. Sorry, for number one, it was not "a lot" or "a lot" with no space.
Number two, "I need to _______ more money to my bills." Which one do you think it is?
"I need to _______ more money to my bills." So in this case, there's only one correct
answer. "A lot". In this case, it's the verb. "I need to _______ a lot more money to my
bills." Meaning, I have a lot of money, or maybe not a lot, but I have some money, and
some of my money has to be divided towards my bills, while other money I use for other
things. So it's dividing your money up. You need to put more money towards your bills.
Okay, number three. "Each speaker was _______ 10 minutes." So what do you think it is? "Each
speaker was allotted 10 minutes." So again, the verb "a lot". So "each speaker was allotted
10 minutes" means out of all the time they had for maybe a presentation or event, they
distributed the time up among all the speakers, so each speaker got 10 minutes. So it's a
way to divide the time. Okay, number four. "He writes poetry." "He writes poetry." Which
one do you think it is? Well, of course you know it's "a lot". Which "a lot"? They're
all pronounced the same. It's "a lot" with a space. Now, when it comes after a verb,
you don't need the "of". We only use the "of" if there is a noun. So there's no noun, we
just have the verb "a lot", and in this case, it means "often". "He writes poetry often.
He writes poetry a lot." Now, for those male viewers who are watching, women love this.
So "write poetry a lot", I recommend that.
Okay, so we've gone through "a lot", "a lot", "a lot", "lots". The main one to remember,
this is "always wrong". And so for more practice for -- I know I've said "a lot" a lot today
-- for more practice for these, I welcome you to visit our website at www.engvid.com.
We have a test to practice these and to make sure you have a full grasp on these words.