I have (a) | much work (b) | to do. (c) | No error (d)

Correct — D, (d) No error.

The sentence is ‘I have much work to do.’ It is the shortest item on the page, and every one of its three parts is sound, so the answer is the separate ‘No error’ choice.

The point being tested is the quantifier. ‘Work’, in the sense of labour or tasks to be performed, is an UNCOUNTABLE noun: it has no plural in that sense and cannot be counted directly. Uncountable nouns take ‘much’, not ‘many’ — much work, much information, much advice, much luggage. So ‘much work’ is exactly right, and ‘many work’ or ‘many works’ would be the error.

Segment (a), ‘I have’, is the ordinary present of ‘have’ in its sense of possessing or being faced with something, correctly agreeing with the first-person subject. Segment (c), ‘to do’, is an infinitive attached to the noun ‘work’ and telling us what is to be done with it — the same pattern as ‘a letter to write’, ‘nothing to say’, ‘a train to catch’. Nothing in it needs a preposition or a change of form.

The reason the sentence feels wrong to some candidates is a matter of register rather than grammar. In everyday speech ‘much’ in a plain affirmative statement is less common than ‘a lot of’ or ‘plenty of’, and a candidate who has absorbed that preference may read ‘I have much work to do’ as stilted. Stilted is not ungrammatical. ‘Much’ in an affirmative sentence is standard written English, and it is the normal form after ‘so’, ‘too’ and ‘how’ — so much work, too much work, how much work.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)I have — There is no error in this part. ‘Have’ is the correct form of the verb with the subject ‘I’ — the -s form belongs only to the third person singular, so ‘I have’, ‘you have’, ‘we have’, ‘they have’ and ‘he has’. The verb is also being used correctly in its lexical sense of possessing or being confronted with something, which is why it stands alone here rather than helping another verb. A candidate might expect ‘I have got’, which is common in speech, but its absence is not a fault: ‘I have much work’ and ‘I have got much work’ are both possible, and the plainer form is the better one in writing.
• (b)much work — This part is correct, and it is the part the item is really about. ‘Work’ meaning labour or tasks is uncountable, so the quantifier it takes is ‘much’ and not ‘many’. Candidates mark this segment for one of two reasons. Some have learnt that ‘much’ belongs in questions and negatives — do you have much work, I do not have much work — and conclude that an affirmative sentence must use ‘a lot of’; that is a preference of style, and a sentence is not ungrammatical for choosing the more formal option. Others try to make ‘work’ plural and reach for ‘many works’, which is a different word: ‘works’ means a factory, or the body of an author’s or artist’s output, or public works, and none of those is meant here.
• (c)to do. — There is no error here either. The infinitive ‘to do’ modifies the noun ‘work’ and states what remains to be performed, a construction English uses constantly — a book to read, a form to fill in, a decision to take. No preposition is needed at the end, because the object of ‘do’ is the noun ‘work’ that the infinitive is already attached to; adding one, as in ‘to do with’, would change the meaning entirely. Nor is a gerund possible here: ‘I have much work doing’ is not English. The only trap in this segment is its shortness, which invites a candidate who has found nothing elsewhere to mark it on suspicion.

The item rests on the countable–uncountable distinction, which governs a whole family of grammar points.

COUNTABLE nouns have singular and plural forms and can follow a number: one file, three files. They take ‘many’, ‘few’, ‘a few’, ‘fewer’ and ‘a number of’. UNCOUNTABLE nouns have no plural in the relevant sense and cannot follow a number directly: work, information, advice, furniture, luggage, baggage, equipment, machinery, scenery, stationery, poetry, bread, money, progress, evidence. They take ‘much’, ‘little’, ‘a little’, ‘less’ and ‘an amount of’. To count an uncountable noun, English inserts a unit: a piece of information, an item of furniture, a bit of advice, two pieces of luggage.

Set against that, MUCH and MANY differ only in what they attach to, and so do LITTLE and FEW — but little and few carry an extra distinction of meaning. ‘Few’ and ‘little’ without an article are negative in force: few officers attended means hardly any did. ‘A few’ and ‘a little’ are positive: a few officers attended means some did. ‘The few’ and ‘the little’ mean all that there was, no more.

A further wrinkle worth knowing, because it produces the very error this sentence avoids: some nouns are uncountable in one sense and countable in another, and the plural changes the meaning. ‘Work’ is labour when uncountable and a factory or an author’s output when plural. ‘Paper’ is a material when uncountable and a newspaper, a document or an examination paper when countable. ‘Iron’ is a metal or an appliance depending on the sense; so are ‘glass’, ‘wood’ and ‘light’. Reading which sense the sentence is in decides which quantifier belongs.

Key facts

• ‘Work’ in the sense of labour or tasks is uncountable, so it takes ‘much’, ‘little’ or ‘a little’, never ‘many’ or ‘few’.
• ‘Works’ as a plural means something else — a factory, public works, or the body of an author’s or artist’s output.
• ‘Much’, ‘little’, ‘a little’ and ‘less’ go with uncountable nouns; ‘many’, ‘few’, ‘a few’ and ‘fewer’ go with countable ones.
• ‘Few’ and ‘little’ without an article are negative in force; ‘a few’ and ‘a little’ are positive; ‘the few’ and ‘the little’ mean all there was.
• Common uncountables that examiners use: information, advice, furniture, luggage, baggage, equipment, machinery, scenery, stationery, poetry, evidence, progress, money.
• To count an uncountable noun English adds a unit — a piece of information, an item of furniture, two pieces of luggage.
• ‘Much’ in an affirmative statement is formal but perfectly correct, and it is the normal form after ‘so’, ‘too’ and ‘how’.
• An infinitive can attach to a noun to say what is to be done with it: work to do, a letter to write, a train to catch.

Common traps

• Marking ‘much work’ because ‘a lot of work’ sounds more natural. That is a matter of register, and the formal choice is not an error.
• Trying to make ‘work’ plural. ‘Works’ exists but means a factory or an author’s output, which is not what the sentence says.
• Marking a short segment for want of anything better. Segment length is unrelated to where a fault lies.
• Assuming every sentence in the block must contain a fault, and manufacturing one to fit the assumption.
• Confusing the negative ‘little’ and ‘few’ with the positive ‘a little’ and ‘a few’ when the same family is tested in another item.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The inspector asked for (a) | many informations (b) | about the establishment. (c) | No error (d)

  • (a)The inspector asked for
  • (b)many informations
  • (c)about the establishment.
  • (d)No error

  Answer(b) many informations — ‘information’ is uncountable, so it has no plural and takes ‘much’ rather than ‘many’. The segment should read ‘much information’, or ‘a good deal of information’, or, if a count is wanted, ‘several pieces of information’. Parts (a) and (c) are correct as printed.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Very little officers (a) | attended the meeting, (b) | so it was adjourned. (c) | No error (d)

  • (a)Very little officers
  • (b)attended the meeting,
  • (c)so it was adjourned.
  • (d)No error

  Answer(a) Very little officers — ‘officers’ is a countable noun, so the quantifier must be ‘few’, giving ‘very few officers’. ‘Little’ belongs with uncountable nouns such as work, time or information. Parts (b) and (c) are correct, and the negative force of ‘very few’ is exactly what the consequence in part (c) requires.