Does this make sense?

[Ricardodaforce]

I spend a lot of my time thinking and conversing in Spanish. So much so that when talking with family I sometimes struggle to find the English word I want.
Anyway, let me get to the point!
I'm on CNN.com and I've clicked on a link.
The story is "Reports: NSA has cracked much online encryption".
That looks gramatically strange to me, but I'm just not sure.
Opinions please!

 

[ghoti]

It's perfectly fine grammatically.
"Much" is used to refer to an unspecified large number of uncountables. "Many" is the alternative for countables.

Since "online encryption" can have quantity but is uncountable, "much" is what we would use.

They could have said "a lot of online encryption" or "many kinds of online encryption", but the first is pretty informal and the second is overlong.

 

[Ricardodaforce]

It's perfectly fine grammatically.
"Much" is used to refer to an unspecified large number of uncountables. "Many" is the alternative for countables.

Since "online encryption" can have quantity but is uncountable, "much" is what we would use.

They could have said "a lot of online encryption" or "many kinds of online encryption", but the first is pretty informal and the second is overlong.

A brilliant response. Thank you

 

[kendo1]

But it still looks and sounds weird, and CNN is American so English English is not their native language.

I'm sure there are better ways to express this.


...and I did mean to put English twice.

I see the dailydot has gone with 'NSA better at defeating encryption than anyone imagined'.

 

[Lynton]

the problem lies in the home address of the website.. CNN.com

Therefore have to adjust for spamfactor (or USAitis)

"You do the math!"