Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to indicate the great intensity, extent, or degree of something such as an action, feeling, or change. Much is usually used with ‘so’, ‘too’, and ‘very’, and in negative clauses with this meaning.
She laughs too ~...
Thank you very ~...
My hairstyle hasn’t changed ~ since I was five.
ADV: ADV after v
2.
If something does not happen ~, it does not happen very often.
He said that his father never talked ~ about the war...
Gwen had not seen her Daddy all that ~, because mostly he worked on the ships...
Do you get back East ~?
= often
ADV: oft with brd-neg, ADV after v
3.
You use ~ in front of ‘too’ or comparative adjectives and adverbs in order to emphasize that there is a large amount of a particular quality.
The skin is ~ too delicate...
You’d be so ~ happier if you could see yourself the way I see you...
= far
ADV: ADV compar, ADV too emphasis
4.
If one thing is ~ the same as another thing, it is very similar to it.
The day ended ~ as it began...
Sheep’s milk is produced in ~ the same way as goat’s milk.
ADV: ADV as/like cl, ADV like n, ADV n as n, ADV n
5.
You use ~ to indicate that you are referring to a large amount of a substance or thing.
They are grown on the hillsides in full sun, without ~ water...
The Home Office acknowledges that ~ crime goes unreported...
DET: DET n-uncount, oft with brd-neg
•
Much is also a pronoun.
...eating too ~ and drinking too ~...
There was so ~ to talk about.
? little
PRON
•
Much is also a quantifier.
Much of the time we do not notice that we are solving problems...
She does ~ of her work abroad...
QUANT: QUANT of def-n-uncount/def-sing-n
6.
You use ~ in expressions such as not ~, not very ~, and too ~ when replying to questions about amounts.
‘Can you hear it where you live?’ He shook his head. ‘Not ~.’...
‘Do you care very ~ about what other people think?’—‘Too ~.’
ADV: ADV as reply
7.
If you do not see ~ of someone, you do not see them very often.
I don’t see ~ of Tony nowadays...
QUANT: with brd-neg, QUANT of n-proper/pron
8.
You use ~ in the expression how ~ to ask questions about amounts or degrees, and also in reported clauses and statements to give information about the amount or degree of something.
How ~ money can I afford?...
See just how ~ fat and cholesterol you’re eating...
DET: how DET
•
Much is also an adverb.
She knows how ~ this upsets me but she persists in doing it...
ADV: how ADV, ADV with cl, ADV compar
•
Much is also a pronoun.
How ~ do you earn?...
PRON: how PRON
9.
You use ~ in the expression as ~ when you are comparing amounts.
Their aim will be to produce as ~ milk as possible...
DET: as DET n, usu as DET n as cl/group
10.
You use ~ as to introduce a fact which makes something else you have just said or will say rather surprising.
Much as they hope to go home tomorrow, they’re resigned to staying on until the end of the year.
PHRASE
11.
You use as ~ in expressions such as ‘I thought as ~’ and ‘I guessed as ~’ after you have just been told something and you want to say that you already believed or expected it to be true.
You’re waiting for a woman–I thought as ~.
PHRASE: v PHR
12.
You use as ~ as before an amount to suggest that it is surprisingly large.
The organisers hope to raise as ~ as ?6m for charity.
PHRASE: PHR amount emphasis
13.
You use ~ less after a statement, often a negative one, to indicate that the statement is more true of the person, thing, or situation that you are going to mention next.
They are always short of water to drink, ~ less to bathe in...
PHRASE: PHR cl/group, PHR before v
14.
You say nothing ~ to refer to something that is not very interesting or important.
‘What was stolen?’—‘Oh, nothing ~.’...
PHRASE
15.
If you describe something as not ~ of a particular type of thing, you mean that it is small or of poor quality.
It hasn’t been ~ of a holiday...
PHRASE: PHR n
16.
So ~ for is used to indicate that you have finished talking about a subject. (SPOKEN)
Well, so ~ for the producers. But what of the consumers?
PHRASE: PHR n
17.
If you say so ~ for a particular thing, you mean that it has not been successful or helpful. (INFORMAL)
He has spent 19 million pounds, lost three cup finals and been relegated. So ~ for money.
PHRASE: PHR n
18.
If you say that something is not so ~ one thing as another, you mean that it is more like the second thing than the first.
I don’t really think of her as a daughter so ~ as a very good friend...
PHRASE: with brd-neg, PHR group, PHR before v
19.
If you say that someone did not do so ~ as perform a particular action, you are emphasizing that they did not even do that, when you were expecting them to do more.
I didn’t so ~ as catch sight of him all day long...
PHRASE: with brd-neg, PHR before v emphasis
20.
You use so ~ so to indicate that your previous statement is true to a very great extent, and therefore it has the result mentioned.
He himself believed in freedom, so ~ so that he would rather die than live without it.
PHRASE: PHR that
21.
If a situation or action is too ~ for you, it is so difficult, tiring, or upsetting that you cannot cope with it.
His inability to stay at one job for long had finally proved too ~ for her.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR for n
22.
You use very ~ to emphasize that someone or something has a lot of a particular quality, or that the description you are about to give is particularly accurate.
...a man very ~ in charge of himself...
PHRASE: oft PHR n emphasis
23.
a bit ~: see bit
not up to ~: see up