Clear this.

What are some rules we can apply to use correctly the quantifying phrases "a lot of" and "lots of." 

I think you have covered this many times in the past and if you think there are some threads that will answer my question sufficiently, please refer to me those threads. 

Is the underlined part right?

Thank you, MM.

You said those are to be avoided in formal English; then, what would you use instead of those words?

I have much money/many friends? 

Is my use of a semicolon right for the underlined question? If not, how would you rewrite it?

Believer,

In addition to MM's comments, here are some rules about "a lot of" and "lots of".

(1) Both "a lot of" and "lots of"  are used with singular uncountable and  plural  nouns. Most importantly, they are not used with singular countable nouns.

For example, 'A lot of pencil is on the table' is wrong since 'pencil' is a singular countable noun.

(2) The verb of a sentence is not decided by 'a lot of' or 'lots of', rather the verb is decided by the noun that follows 'of'.

For example,

A lot of  pencils are on the table (Subject -Plural countable nouns  Verb-are)

A lot of time is spent on Salt Lake River project (Subject -Uncountable noun  Verb-is)

(3) Both 'a lot of' and 'lots of' are normally avoided in formal writing. If you want to use 'many' or 'much' instead of 'a lot of' and 'lots of', use 'many' with countable nouns and 'much' with uncountable nouns.

Believer wrote:

Thank you. I think there was a post inquiring about the same usage and in it, it had these words. By Juhumjhum It should be, either "there is a lot of trees and flowers in the park" or "there are lots of trees and flowers in the park." Why should the verbs change?

"There is" + "plural noun" is informal English, and it is often used in  conversations.