more
part of speech
determiner, pronoun, adverb (more; most)
meaning for a pupil
1) More means a bigger number or amount: more apples, more water. tree →
2) More means extra, in addition: three more. tree →
3) «More than» compares: 8 is more than 5 (8 > 5). tree →
4) More makes longer adjectives compare: more beautiful. tree →
5) Most means the biggest number or amount of all. tree →
6) «More or less» means about; «once more» means one more time; «no more» means none left or not any longer. tree →
7) (casual) «Any more?», «more pls», «moar» (joking spelling online) ask for extra; «what's more» adds a point. tree →
8) (formal) The exam voice says «additional», «further», «a further 4», «in excess of», «exceeding», «surplus», «by how many does … exceed …». tree →
sense in the lessons
extra things coming («gets N more», «found N more» = add); or in «how many more … than» a comparison (= subtract); the sign > means «more than»; in everyday life «once more», «no more», «more or less» (about), «any more»; in casual talk «got any more?», «more pls»; in the exam voice «a further 4», «additional», «by how many does A exceed B» (= the difference)
examples
- Zoe gets 8 more cards. tree →
- How many more books does Tom have than Ben? tree →
- Ann has 3 apples. She picks 4 more. tree →
- Can I have some more pasta? tree →
- 10 is more than 7. tree →
- Read it once more, please. tree →
- This puzzle is more difficult than the last one. tree →
- Who has the most stickers? tree →
- There is no more milk. tree →
- can i have 2 more?? pleeease tree →
- You've got 3 more than me, that's not fair! tree →
- By how many does the quantity held by Tom exceed that held by Ben, given that Tom holds 12 and Ben holds 7? tree →
- He mustn't have that any more!" tree →
note
«gets/found N more», «a further N» or «N additional» means adding. Trap: «how many more … than» or «by how many does A exceed B» asks for a difference: subtract. «Tom has 3 more than Ali» with Ali's amount given asks you to add 3 to Ali's. Use «more» with long adjectives (more careful) and -er with short ones (bigger), not both («more bigger» is wrong). «no more» means zero left.
In the corpora
- A promotion is a move up to a more senior job in the same organisation, usually with more responsibility and more pay.
- Borrowing always has a price called interest, so the total paid back is more than the price tag.
- Debt becomes a problem when the repayments are more than the family can afford.
- Inflation means prices rise over time, so the same pound buys less; if pay rises more slowly, families are worse off.
- Families move house for many reasons: a new job, more room, a cheaper rent, or because a tenancy ends.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «more» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.