substantial
part of speech
adjective (substantial, more substantial, most substantial)
meaning for a pupil
1) Large in amount, size or importance. tree →
2) Strong, solid and well made. tree →
3) (of a meal) Big and filling. tree →
sense in the lessons
It is a common word in formal writing and exams: «a substantial increase» means a big one. In science: «a substantial difference between the results». In everyday life: «a substantial breakfast». In maths, «substantial» says the number is large but does not give it exactly. Phrases: «a substantial amount», «substantial increase», «substantial meal».
examples
- (formal) There was a substantial rise in the number of visitors. tree →
- She won a substantial amount of money in the competition. tree →
- We had a substantial lunch before the long walk. tree →
- The house is old but substantial and well built. tree →
- The new playground made a substantial difference to the school. tree →
- (formal) The results show a substantial improvement. tree →
- The storm caused substantial damage to the roof. tree →
- The substantial truth of his statements has been confirmed by later criticism and inquiry. tree →
note
Adverb: «substantially» (a lot, mainly). It means «large», not «substance» (a material). Note the spelling «-tial». In word problems it signals a big change, but you still need the actual numbers.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «substantial» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.