Page 344 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

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look after and look for; fetch
These are not the same. Look after means 'take care of; look for means 'try to find'. Compare:
Could you look after the kids while I go shopping?
I spent ages looking for her before I found her.
We use fetch, not look for, if we know where people or things are.
I'm going to the station at three o'clock to fetch DanieL (NOT ••• ttl IotlleJYlF DanieL)
For other uses of look. see a good dictionary.
For the difference between look (at). /Uatch and see. see 506. For Loold and Look here! used in arguments. see 157.19.
lose and loose
Lose (pronounced !lu:zj) is an irregular verb (lose - lost - lost). Loose (pronounced /lu:s/l is an adjective (the opposite of tight).
I must be losing weight - my clothes all feel loose. (NOT I 17lltSt be Iotning weight . ..)
[a] lot, lots, plenty, a great deal,
a large amount, a large number, the majority
introduction; use of of
These expressions have similar meanings to the determiners much, many and most, but the grammar is not quite the same. In particular. ofis used after these expressions even before nouns with no determiner. Compare:
- There's not a lot ofmeat left. (NOT There's Mt ti lot meat left.)
There's not much meat left. (NOT There's n6t much tJjmeat left.)
- Plenty o f shops open on Sunday mornings. (NOT .Tlf£nfy shtlf'S . . . )
Many shops open on Sunday mornings. (NOT Many tlfshtl'" ...)
For much. many and most with and without of, and other details of their use. see 356-357.
alotofandlotsof
These are rather informal. In a more formal style. we prefer a great deal of,
a large number of, much or many. (Much and many are used mostly in questions and negative clauses - see 357.) There is not much difference between a lot ofand lots of: they are both used mainly before singular uncountable and plural nouns, and before pronouns. It is the subject, and not the form lot/lots, that makes a foUowing verb singular or plural. So when a lot ofis used before a plural subject. the verb is plural; when lots ofis used before a singular subject, the verb is singular.
A lot oftime is needed to learn a language.
Lots ofpatience is needed, too. (NOT LtJts ttff'tlfteFlee tire neetleti, t6t1.)
A lot ofmyfriends want to emigrate. (NOT ,4 lot ttfmy frientls WtlFlts ...) Lots of us think it's time for an election.
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