[MrPedantic]

Well, it's your thread, M56; so if you insist:

First, here's a question. Are you talking about a student growing in an English speaking country? Or are you talking about an ESL/EFL student that wants to learn how to speak English?

Either. If someone has wit enough to ask the question, they have wit enough to understand my reply.

If you are talking about someone growing up in an English speaking country - someone whose first language is English - I should hope that's exactly what he/she says to you.

Your good wishes are noted.

If you're talking about an ESL/EFL student, then it's very unlikely that he/she would say "up yours".

Perhaps the student in question has made a special study of the colourful BrE idioms used in 'Eastenders'...But if you prefer penny-plain:

Student: "MrP, I don't agree with your analysis. In my opinion, the 'much' construction has a different meaning. So I'll use it whenever I want."
MrP: "Good luck to you, my friend."

However, this student would eventually find out that your pedantic Englsih is different from the English used in the normal world of English language speakers.

I'm happy to respond to this interestingly ad-hominem remark; but I'll first need to know:
a) what you mean by my 'pedantic English', with examples;
b) what you mean by the 'normal world of English language speakers'. (North America? Canada? Australia? Singapore? Scotland?)

Yes, but would you tell a student "you can't say it because it's wrong".

Did I say wrong? Hmm. I thought I said redundant, except in unusual situations.

As for 'you can't say', well, if someone wants to use the construction, who am I to stop him?

There is what we say, and there is what we write. There is register. There is formal and informal. There's context.

I applaud your rhetoric; but I don't quite see the relevance of these statements. How would you relate them to the original question?

So, is this a "cannot say" to you?

It's not a construction I can imagine myself using, in either form.

But if I did happen to find I'd written 'this is as much X as it is Y' (where X and Y were adjectives) in a draft document, I'd certainly delete the 'much' – except in the special cases I've noted above. Why use two words, where one will do?

Is the manner in which you speak English really that well controlled? I tend to doubt anyone's spontaneous language conforms to such restrictive views of "ideal language".

I'm confused. A couple of questions ago, you called my English 'pedantic'. Now you doubt whether it's 'that well controlled'. Which do you think it is, XM?

See you around,
MrP