For English speakers, 'lots' and 'loads'?

Question

Hi everyone! Could you answer some questions about these 2 words?
I'd like to know:
which one you use more (in the UK)
if 'loads' is much more informal than 'lots'?
and finally, can you say 'lots OF loads' or the only option is 'lots AND loads'?

I'd really appreciate it if you gave me some examples:)

Answer 1

Loads is slang for lots and actually refers to a load which is carried ie by truck, car, ship etc



Certain parts of the UK will use loads instead of lots, in the same way a lot of people will say never rather than didn't



You can say lots of loads if you're referring to a load (by truck etc) but otherwise not and not in the slang. In the slang, it would be loads and loads

Answer 2

1) I'm not sure, now you make me think about it.

2) More informal.

3) The second one sounds very odd. And I have to work hard to think of a way to use the first one. "Because the lorry was quite small, we had to take lots of loads to move all the stuff." That's using "load" in a somewhat technical sense- the stuff you put on a truck.



Informally...

"lots and lots"? OK

"loads and loads"? OK too.

Answer 3

Lots which means many is more formal. Loads is less formal but is also used for reference to materials i.e. 'loads of timber' meaning a quantity of timber.

It is not good grammar to use both in the same sentence. Although you can say 'lots of loads', 'many loads' is preferable. 'Lots AND loads is incorrect. Hope this helps. Your English is much better than some of our native speakers.

Answer 4

"He has a great deal of money" (where a deal is, historically, a part of the whole) would be the most formal.

"He has a lot of money" (where a lot is, historically, an amount gathered by lot, i.e. chance) is moderately informal. The amount can be made more impressive by "He has lots of money", or, even more by "He has lots and lots of money."

"He has a load of money" (where a load is, historically, a burden or a cartload) is slightly more informal, and suggests a rather larger quantity than "a lot". It too can be made more impressive by using the plural "has loads of money", and even more by repetition, "has loads and loads of money."

I would not expect any native speaker to combine the two, unless he were talking about loads in its literal meaning: "the wagon held a load of coal, but there were lots more loads of coal in other wagons."

Answer 5

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Answer 6

It will depend on the context really. Lots is formal, while loads is informal. I find myself saying LOADS more often though. And its common to either say 'LOTS & LOTS' or 'LOADS & LOADS' ....and not so much 'lots and loads'.



And if the usage/context is to emphasize quantity, you should probably do away with 'Lots of loads' all together. :)

Answer 7

Lots is more formal.

You could say there were lots of loads of bricks.

If you were just emphasising an unexpected large amount you would say loads and loads or lots and lots... There were loads and loads of crabs on the beach.

There are lots and lots of English people in China

Answer 8

It used to mean - lots - many, a large amount of somethings, loads - a large size rather than an amount - not sure if it's still true today.

Answer 9

loads is probably used more than lots, also no- you cannot say lots of loads and you never really say lots and loads as it doesn't make much sense, but you could say.. there are loads, or there are lots but don't use them in the same sentence :)

examples-

i had loads of

i had lots of

i ate loads

i need lots more

i need loads more

there are loads of

there are lots of



hope this helped!

Answer 10

You can say both but "loads" is more informal.

E.g "There's lots of birds" is more formal than "There's loads of birds", but either is OK