Many men atau Many a man?

Many men atau Many a man?

Kita semua tahu bahwa many artinya banyak yang digunakan di depan kata benda atau ia berdiri sendiri (sebagai pronoun).
Many men atau many a man mempunyai arti yang sama. Hanya saja konstruksi many a man lebih sering digunakan dalam bahasa tulisan, misalnya novel dan karya-karya tulisan lainnya.
Jika kita menggunakan konstruksi Many a ........ maka kata kerjanya harus dalam bentuk singular (tunggal). Perhatikan contoh-contoh kalimat berikut:

• Many a tourist visits the beach every weekend.
• Many a student is busy preparing for their examinations.
• Many a man died in the second world war.
• Many a visitor from around the world was seen walking along Oxford Street.
• Many a good student has been influenced by bad students.
• Many a day has passed but nothing has happened.

Demikian perbedaan many dan many a seperti contoh pada kalimat-kalimat di atas.

Bagaimana perbedaan many dan a lot of atau lots of?
A lot of dan lots of lebih sering digunakan dalam situasi informal:

• Many students are having a long holiday.
• A lot of students are having a long holiday. (Informal)

Many juga digunakan sebagai pronoun. Perhatikan contoh berikut:

• A: I haven't seen any students here. Where are they? B: I think many has gone to the beach.