「lot」と「lots」の違いは何ですか?

This question came up in class the other day: what's the difference between "lot" and "lots"?

The basic answer is that "lot" is a singular noun, while "lots" is a plural noun. That means you should use "a" in front of "lot", but don't do that with "lots".

The meaning is the same, though. Personally, I'm likely to use them like this:

• a lot of __(uncountable noun)__
• lots of __(countable noun)__

However, either way is OK.

This, though, is definitely wrong:

× a lots of __(n)__

I was missing Taiwanese food. In particular, I wanted to eat sesame sauce noodles. To feed my craving for sesame sauce noodles, I made some tonight for my late-night dinner.

• craving for ～に対する欲求、～への［～に対する］憧｛あこが｝れ、～への渇望｛かつぼう｝

The pot is filled with a lot of sesame sauce soup which I can pour over noodles. On the side you can see there are lots of bean sprouts to put on top of the noodles.

• 萌やし (もやし) (n) bean sprouts;

I think it turned out pretty well, but I will use a lot more sesame paste in the sauce next time. Next time I'll show you the finished noodles!