much
part of speech
determiner (much, more, most); adverb (much); pronoun (much)
meaning for a pupil
1) Much means a lot of something you do not count one by one, like much water or much money. tree →
2) «How much» asks for an amount or a price. tree →
3) Much makes a comparison stronger: much bigger, much faster. tree →
4) «Not much» means only a little. tree →
5) «Too much» means more than you need or want. tree →
6) (casual) «Not much» answers «What's up?» and means nothing special; «much?» alone asks the price. tree →
7) (sarcastic, casual) «Much?» or «…much?» mocks someone: «Jealous much?» means you are clearly jealous. tree →
8) (rough) «Too much» can mean someone is being unbearable: «you're too much, mate»; «so much for that» means it failed. tree →
9) (formal) «The quantity of», «to what extent» and «considerable» are the stiff words: «Determine the quantity of water remaining.» tree →
10) Much can also mean very greatly, as in "it hurt so much". tree →
sense in the lessons
in «how much» questions about money, liquid, weight or time; in comparisons «how much more», «much bigger»; in everyday life «how much is it?» asks the price; in casual talk «how much for 3?», «not much»; in the exam voice «ascertain the sum expended» or «determine the quantity»; phrases «so much», «too much», «as much as», «thank you very much», «not much», «much the same», «much of a muchness» (UK)
examples
- How much money does she have left? tree →
- How much more does the bike cost than the ball? tree →
- How much water is in the tank? tree →
- He did not eat much. tree →
- How much is this ice cream? tree →
- A whale is much bigger than a dolphin. tree →
- Thank you very much for the present. tree →
- Don't eat too much candy before dinner. tree →
- how much for 3 of them? (casual) tree →
- «What's up?» «Not much, you?» (casual) tree →
- Ate all 8 cookies? Greedy much? (sarcastic) tree →
- Ascertain the quantity of water, in litres, remaining in the vessel subsequent to the removal of 4 litres. (formal exam) tree →
- It has hurt me so much!” tree →
note
«How much» asks for an amount (often money or a measure); «how many» asks for a count. «How much more/less» asks for a difference, so subtract. Trap: «much more» in a sentence is not a number. Much goes with uncountable nouns (much sand), many with countable ones (many shells). In casual talk «how much» is often said wrongly for a count («how much kids») — answer with a count. «Greedy much?» is a jibe, not a question about amount. Formal «the quantity of» = how much.
In the corpora
- One worker alone has little power, but many together are much harder to ignore.
- Burnout means being worn down by too much work and stress for too long, until even small tasks feel huge.
- Much housework is invisible, like booking appointments and planning meals, so each grown-up may not see what the other does.
- Feeling jealous of a new baby is very common, and parents still love the older child just as much.
- The flu jab is free for the over-sixty-fives because flu is much more dangerous for older people.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «much» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.