much – English Grammar Profiler
ADJECTIVES, C2, dummy, NOUNS / By English Grammar Pro
Why say “is of interest” instead of “is interesting“? ‘is of + noun‘ is more formal and in academic writing, we use the noun form of a word more often. More importantly, ‘of+noun’ functions as a noun in this position. Therefore, it can often collocate correctly with modifiers. For example: “greatest interest” is much more …
BE + of NOUN PHRASE Read More »
Leave a Comment / ADVERBS, C2, comment / By English Grammar Pro
Much to my surprise, and Much to the surprise of someone, are ‘comment adverbial phrases’. This structure is not listed in the English Vocabulary or Grammar Profile, so we turn to the Longman dictionary: FORMAL used to say that someone feels very surprised, embarrassed etc when something happens A search in NOW corpus for: . …
MUCH TO + possessive noun phrase Read More »
ADVERBS, comparatives / By English Grammar Pro
Students often ask me “what is the comparative of much?” I am guessing that they want to know about ‘much’ as an adverb meaning ‘nearly’ or ‘approximately’. (It has many forms) In which case, I would say that ‘more’ is the comparative of ‘much’. And for that matter, the superlative is ‘most’. For example: They …
comparative of much Read More »
phrases / By English Grammar Pro
At C2, in the English Vocabulary Profile, the INFORMAL phrase ‘so much for’ + noun phrase is defined: used to say that something has not been useful or successful The Cambridge dictionary: used to express disappointment at the fact that a situation is not as you thought it was A search in COCA 1 . …
so much for (informal) Read More »
Here’s a student example of a determiner + uncountable noun: My teacher told me “enjoy the music and you will dance naturally.” PELIC Taiwanese female level 3 writing class A2 point 18 in the category of NOUNS is defined: form simple noun phrases by pre-modifying nouns with an increasing range of determiners. A2 point 24 in the category of NOUNS: form …
determiner + noun phrase (increasing range) Read More »
DETERMINERS / By English Grammar Pro
‘double, treble, quadruple’ can be multiplying predeterminers. They come before other determiners in a noun phrase. For example, ‘double the national average.’ Bloomberg.com New York City‘s unemployment rate was nearly double the national average in June. Other multiplying expressions: He earns three times more than me. She gets paid nearly three times as much as me. *In the English Vocabulary Profile, B1 if followed by a comparative structure. We can’t be …
mutiplying predeterminer + noun phrase Read More »
C2, FOCUS, PRONOUNS, quantity, subject / By English Grammar Pro
In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 110 in PRONOUNS/quantity: ‘A LOT’ AND ‘MUCH’ as a subject pronouns. focus In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘much’ or ‘much OF-phrase’ in the subject position is listed at C1. For example: Much of their stored carbon makes its way back to the atmosphere. TED A search in iWeb corpus for: . A lot _V 1 …
A LOT | MUCH (subject pronouns) Read More »
When grammar points are from the same CEFR level, and in the same category, we believe it is more useful to have a single post that covers them. Both these A2 points come from the category of DETERMINERS/quantity. Point 15: ‘many’ with plural nouns in negative contexts. Point 23: ‘much’ with uncountable nouns in negative …
not + any | many | much + NOUN Read More »
The English Grammar Profile claims that there are over 1000 grammar points in its inventory. However, there are numerous points that are overlapping. This post shows 3 posts that overlap. B1 Point 34 in the category of NOUNS is defined as: uncountable nouns with an increasing range of determiners/quantity words and phrases including ‘much’, ‘a …
quantity phrase + uncountable noun Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 51 in the category of DETERMINERS/quantity is defined as: ‘SO MUCH’, ‘TOO MUCH’ WITH UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS too|so much _NN1 1 SO MUCH FUN 51051 2 SO MUCH MONEY 13915 3 TOO MUCH MONEY 12901 4 TOO MUCH TROUBLE 10270 5 TOO MUCH WORK 9680 6 TOO MUCH PRESSURE 8394 7 …
too | so + much + NOUN Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 40 in the category of DETERMINERS/quantity is defined as: ‘much’ with uncountable nouns in interrogative contexts. A search in iWeb corpus for: much _NN1 ? 1 MUCH MONEY ? 942 2 MUCH FUN ? 462 3 MUCH WATER ? 400 4 MUCH DIFFERENCE ? 352 5 MUCH POWER ? 289 …
MUCH + uncountable noun (question) Read More »
Yardbarker The Bears’ quarterback has been better of late, but not that much better. *’of late‘ means recently. Point 78 in ADJECTIVES/comparatives is defined as: ‘not that much’ to modify comparative adjectives to a small degree in iWeb: 1 NOT THAT MUCH BETTER 280 2 NOT THAT MUCH BIGGER 109 It’s just not that much bigger. gundogsupply.com (listen to a similar sentence) 3 NOT …
‘He’s not that much better’ (not that much + COMPARATIVE) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 18 in the category of Adverbs is defined: degree adverbs in end position. For example: You bother me a lot. listen An iWeb search for: _VV * so much . 1 THANK YOU SO MUCH. 12598 2 LOVE IT SO MUCH. 1600 3 LOVE YOU SO MUCH. 752 4 LOVE THEM …
SO MUCH | A LOT (end position) Read More »
Let’s explain an expert example of the C1 grammar structure: ‘a bit’ + comparative adjective phrase. Remember that adjectives are usually premodified by adverb phrases. Usually, the premodifier is an intensifier. For example, ‘very good‘ or ‘much better‘. The adverb ‘very’ intensifies the adjective ‘good’. (‘Very‘ cannot intensify comparative adjectives.) ‘Much‘ intensifies the comparative adjective: …
(slightly | a bit | much) + COMPARATIVE Read More »
Point 169 in the category of MODALITY is defined as: ‘(much) more/less’ to modify ‘likely’ in a comparison. There is overlap with point 63 in ADVERB phrases: types and meanings at C1. degree adverbs (‘slightly’, ‘a bit’, ‘much‘) to modify comparatives A cluster search on iWeb for * * less|more likely * *: 1 …
more | less + likely Read More »
Leave a Comment / B2, ellipsis, MODALITY / By English Grammar Pro
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 143 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘used to’ without a following verb where the previous main verb is understood. For example: They don’t make them like they used to. *In the EGP examples, the sense of this structure refers to things in the past that are no longer true. It can refer to repeated …
used to (ellipsis) Read More »