adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
After much deliberation
▪
After much deliberation , first prize was awarded to Derek Murray.
as much as...possibly can
▪
We shall be contributing as much as we possibly can to the campaign.
be more so/less so/too much so
▪
The band is popular and likely to become more so.
▪
Jerry is very honest, perhaps too much so.
be much in demand ( also be in great demand ) (= be wanted by a lot of people )
▪
Fuel-efficient cars are now much in demand.
every bit as much as
▪
I loved him every bit as much as she did.
far too much/long/busy etc
▪
That’s far too much to pay.
▪
It would take me far too long to explain.
great/much/considerable enthusiasm
▪
There was considerable enthusiasm for the idea of a party.
had much to commend it (= was very good )
▪
McKellen’s performance had much to commend it .
half as much again (= the same in addition to half that amount )
▪
The amount of crime is about half as much again as it was in 1973.
has much to offer
▪
Canada has much to offer in terms of location and climate.
have a lot/too much to lose (= used to say that you could make your situation much worse )
▪
These youngsters know they have too much to lose by protesting against the system.
have much in common
▪
The two games have much in common .
hear anything/much of sb/sth
▪
We don’t hear anything of him these days.
how much? (= used to ask the price of something )
▪
How much are the tickets?
how much...is worth
▪
Do you know how much the ring is worth ?
how much...weighs
▪
Do you know how much it weighs ?
however much/many
▪
I really want the car, however much it costs.
It’s incredible how much
▪
It’s incredible how much Tom has changed since he met Sally.
like...very much
▪
She’s a lovely girl and I like her very much .
much admired
▪
Lewis was much admired for his work on medieval literature.
much maligned
▪
a much maligned politician
much needed/badly needed
▪
a much needed boost to the local economy
much the same (= almost the same )
▪
The furniture is made in much the same way as it was 200 years ago.
much to sb’s amusement
▪
He got up and sang 'Yellow Submarine', much to everyone’s amusement.
much to sb’s delight ( also to sb’s great delight ) (= used to say that something gave someone a lot of pleasure )
▪
The princess stopped to talk to people, much to the delight of the crowd.
much to the consternation of (= they are very worried about it )
▪
A new power station is being built much to the consternation of environmental groups .
Much to...disgust
▪
Much to my disgust , I found that there were no toilets for the disabled.
much/a lot less
▪
It costs much less to go by bus.
much/a lot/far better
▪
We now have a much better understanding of the disease.
much/a lot/far less
▪
Social class matters a lot less than it used to.
much/a lot/far more
▪
Diane earns a lot more than I do.
much/a lot/far more
▪
Children generally feel much more confident working in groups.
much/a lot/far worse
▪
Conditions were much worse in rural areas.
much/far too
▪
Amanda is far too young to get married.
much/highly sought-after
▪
a much sought-after defense lawyer
no/little/not much chance
▪
The prisoners knew there was little chance of escape.
not a lot/much/many etc (= only a few, only a little etc )
▪
Not much is known about the disease.
▪
Not many people have read the report.
not cost much
▪
Second hand clothes don’t cost much.
not hold out much hope/hold out little hope
▪
Negotiators aren’t holding out much hope of a peaceful settlement.
not matter much/matter little
▪
I don’t think it matters much what you study.
nothing much
▪
‘What did you do last weekend?’ ‘Oh, nothing much .’
owed much to
▪
Pearson’s work owed much to the research of his friend, Hugh Kingsmill.
resemble nothing so much as sth (= look or seem rather like something )
▪
The building resembled nothing so much as giant beehive.
Thank you very much
▪
Thank you very much , Brian.
Thanks very much
▪
Thanks very much for your help.
too much like hard work (= it would involve too much work )
▪
Becoming a doctor never interested him. It was too much like hard work .
twice as many/much (as sth)
▪
They employ 90 people, twice as many as last year.
very much in love
▪
They were obviously very much in love.
very much like
▪
My experience is very much like that described in the book.
very much
▪
We very much regret that there will be job losses.
very much
▪
She very much wanted to do the right thing.
very much
▪
I feel a lot better – thank you very much .
with as much...as he could muster
▪
‘It’s going to be fine,’ replied David, with as much confidence as he could muster .
without any/much trouble (= easily )
▪
The work was carried out without any trouble.
Without so much as (= he did not even say thank you as he should have done )
▪
Without so much as a word of thanks, Ben turned and went back into the office .
You don’t miss much (= you are good at noticing things )
▪
You don’t miss much , do you ?
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪
It narrowly beat much bigger rival and fellow supermarkets group J Sainsbury to the top slot, and outshone Tesco.
▪
But changes in product-liability laws, a much bigger undertaking, remain stalled.
▪
Robodyne Systems has already demonstrated the basic principle, albeit on a much bigger physical scale.
▪
The way he sees it, each town is like a neighborhood in a much bigger community.
▪
And they knew about much bigger people who had started out like this.
▪
But most of all, she disliked them because they were both military men and their countries were much bigger than hers.
▪
The market could grow much bigger if countries further subsidize wind power to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
easier
▪
The images are fast and sharp, so it's much easier to see what's going on.
▪
It's much easier to hide in a church hall!
▪
Things'd be much easier if people didn't make it so complicated.
▪
The pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are much easier to date because of the larger number of artefacts found in them as grave-goods.
▪
I find it much easier with × 8.5 than with × 7.
▪
Some items were also tried out with Imperial units and these were often much easier than the same question with metric units.
▪
This will make dining out much easier and of course extends the variety of protein foods beyond fish, chicken and cottage cheese!
▪
Fortunately this is much easier than explaining the latest technical developments.
good
▪
I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but it went much better than I expected and my audience were very appreciative.
▪
This has worked much better in reducing claims, though both states in recent years have seen costs rise.
▪
Total abstinence from any sweeteners can cure a sweet tooth permanently - which is much better in the long term.
▪
Henry Ford's assertion that history was bunk was itself bunk: theology seemed to me a much better candidate.
▪
His speeches were hardened a little, but he wasn't much good at abuse or jokes or stridency or sneering.
▪
The horses have done nothing all winter and it would do them so much good .
▪
And I feel so much better for it.
▪
This gives much better reliability than a truly absolute method.
great
▪
A kick is stronger than a punch and has a much greater reach.
▪
The governing body therefore now has much greater potential to exercise control over the life and work of the school.
▪
The percentage of imputed households nationally is about 2%, but the problem is much greater in inner-city areas.
▪
The PCO2 in blood is much greater than the PCO2 in air.
▪
They typically hide much greater deviations from the norm than say the figure for the average physical height of a population does.
▪
And these decisions hold the potential for much greater harm today.
hard
▪
C Gully was much harder and received perhaps only three ascents.
▪
The much harder part, as any of you who have tried it know; is following through on promises to collaborate.
▪
They'd have to try much harder than this.
▪
Also, some think that because they are holding a driver they have to hit the ball much harder .
▪
It is easy enough to assert that active transport across membranes occurs, but much harder to explain how.
▪
What's more, they're much harder to squash.
▪
Duck's view of the harvest feast is much harder than Leapor's.
▪
Later, it became much harder to influence her.
high
▪
The laxative dose required to treat constipation in the young child is much higher than the suggested doses on the label.
▪
The solute concentration in the extracellular space would therefore be much higher than that in the intracellular space.
▪
The damage done can be much worse than from a fire - while the chances of it happening are much higher .
▪
But other analysts said they expect a much higher independent turnout.
▪
This is still much higher than the doses predicted by John Dunster and others at the time.
▪
The effective rate of protection for steel, vehicles and electrical goods, however, went much higher , up to 300 percent.
▪
Tamburlaine is not just interested in becoming a king and instead he bases his vision of power on a much higher scale.
▪
Well, her position in society is so much higher than yours that you can't hope to marry her.
ill
▪
Things were not as bad as they seemed ... In the long run, they were much worse .
▪
Reading turned out badly, much worse than I had feared.
▪
I noticed, on my daily visits to him, that he was getting much worse .
▪
How it coulda been so much worse !
▪
As for Polly, she was in a much worse position than Jack.
▪
The Minnesota Index did much worse than the broader market.
▪
The random scattering of seeds, and how much worse , of human souls, appalled her.
▪
This was much worse than the assault.
large
▪
By contrast, the United States has experienced analogous problems of concentration but has a much larger black population.
▪
These condition called for, and were capable of supporting, much larger social units than the traditional Neolithic villages.
▪
The momentum thrust is a much larger contributor to the overall thrust than the pressure thrust.
▪
Such a deep quake can shake a much larger area.
▪
Something much larger than a man.
▪
In very cold weather much larger flocks appear.
▪
The Oscars are just indicative of a much larger problem.
long
▪
Memory and imagination were grappling at each other's throats, and these people would lose if he lay here much longer .
▪
Now all that was left of the farm was a very thin goat which would not last much longer .
▪
And since some senators had much longer names than others, jealousies soon arose.
▪
The relationship with Mimi had survived its stormy months, though it was not destined to last much longer .
▪
But he can't wait much longer .
▪
Ladies, you don't have to wait much longer .
▪
But in her case I was able to leave her in here much longer .
▪
Women will wait much longer at an intersection rather than take a risk.
low
▪
This would permit a much lower marginal rate of tax. 4.
▪
Among minority students the figures were, predictably, much lower .
▪
The country to the north and north-east of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is much lower and for that reason more cultivated.
▪
In general, lunar rocks differ from terrestrial rocks in that the Moon contains much lower concentrations of easily vaporized elements.
▪
In hot and high areas where air density is much lower , performance will be different, with faster descents.
▪
In section 4, the emotional pitch of the poem is much lower and much more level.
▪
The second one hung much lower .
▪
They were flying at a much lower altitude, without any fighter escort, and obviously had not noticed us.
old
▪
Guide-posts of a sort are much older than milestones.
▪
They look much older and younger.
▪
He was somewhat taken care of by his sister, who was much older , but only somewhat.
▪
Whereas Mrs Hellyer saw her as much older than she was, he saw her as younger than she was.
▪
And here the cataract, fighting its way slowly upstream, encountered the subterranean remains of a much older watercourse.
▪
You were so much older than me, you'd been through broken relationships before and knew how to cope with them.
▪
Parents are not alone in recognizing that some children are much younger and some are much older than others in the class.
small
▪
In those days of fewer opinion polls they seemed to play a much smaller , less intrusive part in the elections.
▪
Directly underneath it, in hot yellow and red, a much smaller sign signals the entrance to the No-Tel Motel.
▪
However, M33 is a much smaller and much looser system.
▪
Pure fusion bombs might be much smaller than existing bombs.
▪
The download file is much smaller than the Windows Media Player file.
▪
Chained to its banister are a ten-speed bicycle and another, much smaller , with training wheels.
▪
The inflation figure confounded economic analysts, most of whom had been predicting a much smaller reduction.
▪
Republicans favor tax breaks for education on a much smaller scale.
well
▪
Yeb isn't faring much better .
▪
Proponents for moving Lindbergh to Miramar contend that the 24, 000-acre Naval base contains a much better safety zone.
▪
My own preference has always been for the rough-coated variety since these can withstand weather and rough going very much better .
▪
Clothes are a much better idea.
▪
This is a much better system.
▪
However, Tejano Country began pulling in much better ratings than expected, Mr Porter said.
▪
Community-policing arrangements have not fared much better in the United States.
▪
I think Nelo will be a much better father than your own real father.
■ VERB
like
▪
I don't know why, but I didn't much like the look of him.
▪
I didn't much like them, but I realized he played with some mastery.
▪
They smoke between classes and after lunch, much like their adult counterparts who huddle outside office buildings for smoke breaks.
▪
Then I would much like to know what caused that explosion in the engine-room.
▪
For at school, the young man would be surrounded by men much like him-self.
▪
It is as if the public recognizes that society has changed over the decade but does not much like what sees.
▪
This method is much like training to run faster.
need
▪
I understand that the Minister is talking to London Transport about advertising the campaign, but it needs much more than that.
▪
Not much need for sleep, much less to spend any time with his family.
▪
The players won't need much lifting for that.
▪
But the national clearinghouses, if they are to remain national services, need much more substantial funding.
▪
What she probably needs much more is your empathy and appreciation.
▪
But he realised they needed much more evidence before they could arrest him for murder.
▪
Officials in contact with bereaved relatives may have been in as much need of counseling as the families themselves.
owe
▪
The quality of even our grandest scenery owes much to its intimacy of scale.
▪
The antagonism directed towards photography from the 1860s owes much to the displacement of human handicrafts by machine methods.
▪
The phenomenal success of his efforts owed much to his supreme mathematical skills and to his equally superb physical insights.
▪
It has its origins in formal logic, and owes much to the writings of Aristotle and Frege.
▪
Others are owed much more, but that's little consolation.
▪
Each owes much to the other, but one will be the more popular.
▪
Their present media facilities owe much to their history.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(I'm) much obliged (to you)
▪
Madam Deputy Speaker: I am much obliged to the hon. Gentleman.
I thought as much
▪
"Andy failed his driving test." "I thought as much when I saw his face."
▪
I must confess I felt a trifle guilty about your lonely watch: nothing to report? I thought as much.
I'll say this/that (much) for sb
▪
And he's got guts, I 'll say that for him.
▪
He was a demon wonder at finding food, I 'll say that for Vern.
▪
I 'll say that for Lorne.
a lot/something/not much etc to be said for (doing) sth
as long as you like/as much as you like etc
as much/as many/the same again
as soon/quickly/much etc as possible
▪
A condition to be rectified as quickly as possible if she didn't want to be labelled a freak, or worse.
▪
Archibol was committed to relieving himself of the distraction of Isaac as quickly as possible .
▪
Experts do recommend that parents also put their babies in other positions as much as possible while awake.
▪
Preston avoided travelling by tube as much as possible , but sometimes it was forced upon him.
▪
Smokers, stop as quickly as possible and do not smoke in the presence of others.
▪
The food is freshly cooked using produce from the kitchen garden and local produce as much as possible .
▪
The Super Bowl was an outgrowth of the desire to take advantage of the merger as quickly as possible .
be a bit much
▪
But maybe total understanding of everything is a bit much to ask of a tiny human mind.
▪
But seeing the little fellow lying there in sauce, sauteed, was a bit much.
▪
But to rise from the grave was a bit much even for Nixon.
be much of a muchness
▪
I can't really recommend any particular hotel. They're all much of a muchness .
be not so much ... as ...
be too much for sb
▪
But often this effort of concentration was too much for me.
▪
But three thousand is too much for now.
▪
I suspected that, deep down, the various emotional themes that Hannah played out were too much for Bruno.
▪
It was too much for Quinn.
▪
The memories were too much for her.
▪
This was too much for me.
cut no ice/not cut much ice
half as much/big etc
▪
A TU154 weighs a third more and consumes half as much fuel again as its Western equivalent, the Boeing 727.
▪
Even allowing for O'Donovan doing half as much business, this would mean 3000 tonnes of toxic waste leaving Ireland a year.
▪
He will not worry about the quality if he does half as much on Saturday.
▪
The fly therefore produces half as much sperm as normal.
▪
The safety mattress also produced only half as much carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
▪
These kids only have half as much cerebral cortex as is normal.
▪
They looked like equine stock, but they were half as big again as any horse that Rostov had ever encountered.
half as much/big etc again
▪
But cars are about half as much again as in Britain.
▪
But Catherine, 31, and 56-year-old Fatal Attraction star Michael spent more than half as much again.
▪
In school we are spending nearly half as much again, in real terms per pupil, as in 1979.
▪
Social Progress Health spending is half as much again as it was in 1979, after taking account of inflation.
▪
The Government is spending over half as much again more than Labour did when they were last in power.
▪
The line shot out, half as much again.
▪
They looked like equine stock, but they were half as big again as any horse that Rostov had ever encountered.
▪
This is half as much again as last year.
have nothing/not much/a lot etc going for sb/sth
leave a lot/sth/much to be desired
▪
Bob's idea of a balanced diet left something to be desired.
▪
His treatment of capital and profits left much to be desired.
▪
On the campaign trail, his oratorical skills have left much to be desired.
▪
On theoretical grounds, however, it leaves much to be desired.
▪
The quality of research in the area of child abuse still leaves much to be desired.
▪
To some degree they have been hampered by courses of study and lesson plans thai leave something to be desired.
▪
While the woodwind and low strings were reasonably well replicated, the violins, timpani and brass left much to be desired.
▪
Yet, as a match, it left something to be desired.
make too much of sth
▪
He was making too much of the whole thing.
▪
How a pop star looks is made too much of, though, the way some people are about it.
▪
It is possible to make too much of all this.
▪
Jasper thought I made too much of her.
▪
Of course, I make too much of this.
▪
One shouldn't make too much of them, but then again, they need watching.
▪
She makes too much of that cat, Daisy thought, for a young woman that is.
▪
She tried not to make too much of the moment.
much/still less
▪
The average person is unlikely to pick up this type of book, much less read it.
▪
Equally, science would be much less advanced than it is if the only available data were intuitive estimates of quantities.
▪
Half a century earlier his behaviour would have seemed much more normal and aroused much less criticism.
▪
In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.
▪
On the battlefield armament was still much less important than discipline and fighting spirit.
▪
She could not afford the bus fare to see a doctor, much less his fee.
▪
The grouping of other languages of the world-and even of their number-is much less clear.
▪
There is not much chance of finding a razor blade, much less using it in the appropriate way.
▪
There was to be no pause for reflection, nor - much less - for a changeover from military to civilian rule.
never so much as
▪
I do everything for him, and he's never so much as made me a cup of coffee.
▪
Clarisa had never so much as dusted his butt with baby powder.
▪
He never so much as twitched.
▪
Naturally he had never so much as whispered this phrase to a living soul.
▪
Tesla was told firmly that he must never so much as mention the subject of alternating current.
▪
They passed a hundred yards away and never so much as changed course to take a closer look.
no good/not much good/not any good
not amount to much/anything/a great deal etc
not be much cop
not have much to say for yourself
not have much up top
not much to look at
▪
Edward's not much to look at, but he has a great personality.
not think much of sb/sth
▪
I don't think much of that new restaurant.
▪
He did not think much of the lectures.
▪
He does not think much of the Midwest, which he calls a backward, dumb but snobbish place.
▪
He does not think much of the students or professors either.
▪
Later I gathered she did not think much of my manners.
not/without so much as sth
▪
So far in Rajasthan, I had not so much as nodded to another female.
▪
He had never had a day of sickness, not so much as a cold.
▪
How could we have put their bag into ours without so much as a single check?
▪
I, who had traveled all that long day on that train without so much as a cheese in my pocket?
▪
It is a matter of tone, not so much as content.
▪
That he had dumped her without a word, without so much as a goodbye.
▪
We got our six appearances, and not so much as one drop-by or mix-and-mingle extra.
▪
When they go straight to bed without so much as ordering a toasted sandwich or spending money at the bar.
only so many/much
▪
There's only so much you can do with hair this fine.
▪
A human being can undergo only so many changes and take in only so many experiences.
▪
I think there was only so much fun to go round, only so much and no more available.
▪
It told him it was grass, and grass could hide only so much.
▪
The greens were rougher then, and there was only so much good putting you could do on them.
▪
The truth is there is only so much preparation you can do.
▪
There's only so much you can cling to - your credibility, your belief in small cottage industries - whatever.
pretty well/much
▪
In 1992, Clinton had pretty much wrapped up the Democratic nomination by Super Tuesday.
▪
It seemed to be pretty much an open and shut case of accidental death, apart from the problem of identifying him.
▪
Once we would arrive at a place, Alistair seemed to leave Judy pretty much on her own.
▪
Otherwise you have to walk the half block, but then you can see them pretty well.
▪
Our point here is that at an abstract level, every organization values pretty much the same things.
▪
Since I was there six years ago some things have changed and others have remained pretty much the same.
▪
They have timed the deal pretty well, and not just from a weather outlook.
▪
They know me pretty well here.
sb doesn't have much meat on him/her
so much for sb/sth
▪
So much for getting up early every morning.
▪
I can't get it off the pan - so much for it being nonstick.
▪
Thank you so much for coming.
▪
Thank you so much for your encouragement in the past.
▪
That diagnosis is not so much for therapeutic reasons as for administrative and management purposes.
▪
The boys have been lovely and Kenneth has done so much for me.
▪
The method she resorted to was novel, not so much for the times but for her.
▪
Together with the right kind of support we could have fun together and achieve so much for ourselves and our diocese.
▪
We take the railways so much for granted.
so much the better
▪
If it makes illegal drug use even more difficult, so much the better .
▪
You can use dried parsley, but if you have fresh, so much the better .
▪
And if I am Peter, so much the better .
▪
And if that can change things, so much the better Female speaker He's the little man having a kick.
▪
But if I can manage with fewer trips to the store, so much the better .
▪
If love eventually grows, so much the better .
▪
If they are alive so much the better , but they can be persuaded to take dead ones.
▪
If they can fit in with the room's general style, so much the better .
▪
If we can improve the team another way, so much the better .
▪
So a single fluorescent tube will be adequate, and if you have used floating plants, so much the better .
sth has much/little/nothing to recommend it
▪
The hotel has little except price to recommend it.
▪
An alternative approach-optical fibre - has much to recommend it.
▪
As such, it has much to recommend it.
▪
But in terms of an effective solution the voting method has little to recommend it.
▪
In principle this format has much to recommend it, but in this case the practice has not been successful.
▪
It is plain that, in the long run, the gentle art of compromise has much to recommend it.
▪
Nevertheless, the principle of chisel ploughing has much to recommend it in the right conditions.
▪
Such a way of proceeding has much to recommend it, but scant progress has been made in that direction.
▪
This cooperative family decision-making has much to recommend it.
that's not saying much
▪
Better than Alex O'Neal's offering, but that's not saying much.
there isn't much call for sth
▪
There isn't much call for typewriters since computers got easier to use.
very much so
▪
It was like Hi De Hi backstage, very much so.
without so much as a by your leave
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"Did you enjoy the show?" "Not much ."
▪
Do you talk to Leslie much anymore?
▪
Has he changed much ?
▪
His family is much more important to him than his career.
▪
I haven't thought much about it.
▪
It was much easier doing the letter on the computer.
▪
Mrs. Clausen was much loved and will be sadly missed.
▪
She's feeling much better now.
▪
The test was much too difficult for most of the students.
▪
These shoes are much more comfortable.
▪
Wayne looked much older than the last time I saw him.
▪
You're working much too hard, and you're letting the boss take advantage of you.
▪
You get a much better view if you stand on a chair.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
The damage done can be much worse than from a fire - while the chances of it happening are much higher.
▪
We should pay more attention to those millions of elderly pensioners than to the much smaller number of millionaires.
▪
What sticks in the brain, and occasionally the heart, is something much less tangible.
▪
When the headlights flashed, it barely blinked, much less moved.