This is a
general rule which you can find in many a good English grammar book. I am not saying that it is not used that way. The sentence: "I don't have a lot of money on me." is a perfect line in everyday language - for 'a lot of' is colloquial. My teachers discourage me from using it in written English. And again, they
can be a little old-fashioned. Being pressed for time, I can come up with several sources only, one of which is:
a. the British National Corpus - have a try by typing the 'a lot of' being put in a negative sentence.
edytowany przez grudziu: 25 paź 2013