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#1
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| (1) The painting was expected to fetch as much as £5 million. I know that "as much as" in (2) means "the surprisingly large number of" and is equivalent in meaning to "no less than." (2) The painting fetched as much as £5 million. But (1) is talking about a possibility and not about a fact. In this case, "as much as" refers to the largest possible amount, and we can instead use "up to" or "at most." That's what I think. Do you think I'm on the right track? Thank you in advance Seiichi MYOGA |
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#2
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#3
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| Dear bhaisahab, I appreciate your help and comments. Actually, I still have difficulty understanding why "at most" can't work here, but I will leave it at that for now. Seiichi MYOGA |
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#4
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| If the painting is going for auction we can say that it is expected to sell for as much as 5 million or up to 5 million; this is an expectation it is not certain, maybe it will sell for more maybe for less. If we say it will sell for 5 million at most it means that we are certain that it won't fetch more. |
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#5
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| Dear bhaisahab, I appreciate your help and comments. Now I think I understand. The English language has several ways to express the idea of upper limit: at most, no/not more than, up to, as many [much] as, as high as, etc. But that idea is cancelable (except for "at most")! Your comments also tell us why "at most" doesn't convey the idea of surprise. Seiichi MYOGA |
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