Much people or many people?

MySense

I wonder it perhaps your brother's teacher has been reading an old Bible translation like the King James.

In today's English the correct expression is "many people", mainly because we can say "How many people" and can answer with a specific number referring the number of individuals. ("Only three people showed up!")

We also can speak of "a people", plural "peoples"  (that is "people-group(s)"), much as we speak of "nation(s)".

But in EARLY Modern English, that is, English of the 16th century, it was a little bit different.

To speak about one large group they would say "There were much people".

If you wished to speak about what WE would refer to as "peoples", that is, many different groups, you would say "many people", whereas today we would say "many peoples".

This is the usage you will find in most of the King James Version (1611).  Actually, I think the ordinary spoken usage of the early 17th century, and the KJV was simply maintaining the wording of the 16th century translations (in this case, probably the popular Geneva Bible they were looking to replace, and all the way back to William Tyndale's translation in the 1520s).  

I know of just TWO verses (in Revelation 10 and 17) where "peoples" is used.  This suggests the usage had changed or was changing by the time of the KJV.
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By the way, the rules about "much" for something you do not specifically count, and "many" for things you DO count, nearly always works, but there are a few apparent exceptions (like, I think, "cattle", but let's not get into that now).     

That is why I suggested a different test, based on how you ANSWER the question "How many/much X?"   If you can answer this question with the SAME word ("X") all but itself, the proper word is "many".  If you MUST use a DIFFERENT word or ADDED words, you should say "much".

Thus:
How much money? >>  Ten dollars (not "ten money")
How much furniture? >> Three chairs, a couch and two lamps.  OR "Four PIECES OF furniture"
How much soup is left? >> Three large bowls.
vs.  How MANY SOUPS do you serve? (that is, different KINDS of soups) >>  Just three: vegetable, chicken noodle, tomato.

If you need the Bible references (for the King James and Geneva), check here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?sea…
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/inde…
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/inde…
http://www.studylight.org/desk/?l=en&que…

bruhaha