Misuse of Much

When referring to a noun, if one can count multiples of that noun, it’s considered a countable noun. If the quantity is generally too many or too difficult to count, it’s called an uncountable noun. For example, “a grain of sand” is countable (one grain of sand, two grains of sand), but “sand” itself is uncountable. For countable nouns, use the adjective many. For uncountable nouns, use the term much.

How much shoes are in this store?

Shoes are countable, even if there are billions and billions of shoes; use the adjective many to modify shoes.

How many shoes are in this store?

How much are the shoes in this store? Are they expensive?

In this sentence, how much is referring to the price of the shoes, not the quantity.

Some nouns can be countable or uncountable.

There are many wines for sale.

This sentence refers to the different types of wine which are available for sale.

There are many wine for sale.

There is much wine for sale.

This sentence refers to the quantity of wine which is available for sale.