There was / were + much / many / a lot of

*COUNTABLE NOUNS
Affirmative > We use a lot of.            -Example: There were a lot of people.
Negative > We use many.                  -Example: There weren't many people.
Questions > We use many too.           -Example: How many people were there?

*UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Affirmative > We use a lot of.            -Example: There was a lot of noise.
Negative > We use much.                   -Example: There wasn't much noise.
Questions > We use much.                 -Example: How much noise was there?

*** PAY ATTENTION:
When the asnwer to a How much / how many question is zero, we use not any for both countable and uncountable nouns.

-Example:  How many survivors were there? There weren't any (suvivors).

****Traducción al castellano:
Cuando la respuesta a una pregunta de How much / how many es cero, no utilizamos por tanto sustantivos contables e incontables.