[Grammar] eat a lot

[KJOU]

He ate a lot.

He ate so much.

He ate too much

I am familiar with those sentences, but

would it be possible to use much, not "a lot"?

He ate much.

What I would like to ask is "much" could be used alone without other modifiers like "very" or "too"

Many thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

1. He ate a lot.
2. He ate so much.
3. He ate too much.

I [STRIKE]am familiar with[/STRIKE] know those sentences are correct, but would it be possible to use "much" instead of [STRIKE]not[/STRIKE] "a lot"?

He ate much.

[STRIKE]What I would like to ask is[/STRIKE] Can "much" [STRIKE]could[/STRIKE] be used alone without other modifiers like "very" or "too"?

[STRIKE]Many thanks.[/STRIKE] Unnecessary. Thank us after we help you, by clicking on the Thank button.

Please note my corrections above.

Sentence 1 is OK. Sentence 2 needs something added - "He ate so much that he felt sick". Don't use "so" when you mean "very". Sentence 3 is OK but doesn't mean the same as sentence 1.

No, you can't use "much" on its own in positive declarative statements, so you can't say "He ate much" instead of "He ate a lot". We generally use it in the negative:

I didn't eat much yesterday.
She didn't want to eat much.
I don't think he'll need to eat much tomorrow.

 

[Tdol]

There may some debate about whether He ate much is grammatically wrong, but it is unnatural. Avoid it.

 

[probus]

When I lived in England long ago, the phrase much of a sameness was in vogue. My boss used to mock it by saying much of a muchness.

 

[5jj]

When I lived in England long ago, the phrase much of a sameness was in vogue. My boss used to mock it by saying much of a muchness.

I have encountered the second of those two expressions, and indeed used it, but not the first.

 

[Rover_KE]

My family has always said much of a muchness without any sense of mockery.

 

[Tarheel]

You can use "so much" in a sentence like the following one.

He ate so much pizza that it made him sick.

Also, so can be used as an intensifier, thus:

Thank you so much!

 

[emsr2d2]

I have encountered the second of those two expressions, and indeed used it, but not the first.

My family has always said much of a muchness without any sense of mockery.

Ditto. "Much of a muchness" is commonly used in BrE and I use it regularly, along with the similar "Six of one, half a dozen of the other".

 

[5jj]

"Six of one, half a dozen of the other".

Or, as my wife puts it, "Six and two threes"

 

[tedmc]

There are cases where "much" is not used in the negative:

The launch of the product/campaign was done with much fanfare.
The misinformation has spread far and wide, causing much ado about nothing.

 

[Tdol]

When I lived in England long ago, the phrase much of a sameness was in vogue. My boss used to mock it by saying much of a muchness.

According to Ngrams, much of a sameness was at its most popular around 1920. ;-)

 

[5jj]

Rover and I might have used it in our teens then.

 

[Rover_KE]

:shock:

 

[Tdol]

Your first or second teens?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't think he's that old. (I could be wrong.)