a great many与a great many of的用法问题

要说明 a great many 与 a great many of 的用法区别，可以简化为 many 与 many of 的用法区别。

1. many 既是限定词，用于修饰名词，也是不定代词，代替名词。在 many farmers 中，many 是限定词；在 many of 短语中 many 是代词。通常情况下代词后接 of...时，of 后应该用特指的名词或代词。例如 some students, some of the students；either side 与 either of the sides；much money 与 much of the money，以及 many soldiers 与 many of their soldiers 等。（当然，也有少量代词用法特殊的，比如 both (of) his daughters 中的 of 可有可无，这与 both 这个限定词的定位有关，在此不拟多谈。）

2. 因为 many of 修饰名词时，是代词，而 many 修饰名词时是限定词，这样也造成了一些用法区别。可以说 many of his friends,但不说 many his friends, 因为 many 是后位限定词，his 是中位限定词，his 须置于 many 之前。所以须将词序改为 his many friends 才合适。

3. 鉴此，您提供的例句中 farmers 前面没有 the 或其它的限定词（如 these 等），不宜用 many of。

以上仅供参考。