Not to mention
- Thread starter st_hart
- Start date
- Views : 89,076
- Status
sarat_106
Key Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2008
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Oriya
- Home Country
- India
- Current Location
- India
Not to mention is an Idiom: meaning Much less - used as an adverb to add emphasis to what you are saying
- The boy hasn't learnt arithmetic, not to mention algebra. ( Here you want to emphasize that the boy is poor in all ereas of mathematics,not to mention algebra is an adverbial phrase )
- she can't boil potatoes, not to mention cooking a meal. (To emphasize that she does not know ABC of cooking, the under lined portion is an adverbial phrase)
st_hart
Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2009
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Indonesian
- Home Country
- Indonesia
- Current Location
- Indonesia
In that case, can we assume that the phrase following the 'not to mention' is harder, more difficult or has a higher degree than the phrase before the idiom?
sarat_106
Key Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2008
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Oriya
- Home Country
- India
- Current Location
- India
Yes it should mean like that. Cooking a meal is certainly much more difficult than boiling egg.
- Status
