much & a great deal (of)

[xxwzs]

Three senior high school English exercises:
1. In the view of the foreign experts, there wasn’t ______ oil here. (All of A, B and C can be used to modify uncountable nouns. I can't distinguish)
A. much B. lots of C. a great deal of D. many
2. The large houses are being painted, but ______. (Have no idea)
A. of great expense B. at a great expense C. in a lot of expenses D. by high expense
3. Computers can do ______ work in a short time, but a man can not do ______ by himself. (I think B & C both work.)
A. great many…many B. a great deal of…much
C. much…a great deal D. many…a great many
Please give your answers and why you choose them.
I really appreciate it if anyone can give a hand.
Waiting for your help.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

1. I would not use B. A and C are both possible, but A is the most natural.

2. I assume the expected answer is B, but I would prefer 'at great expense' without the 'a'.

3. B and C do both work, but my natural choice would be B.

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

I don't understand what "at great expense" means in the second sentence. Can you help me?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

It means, 'at a high cost'. In other words, painting the houses is expensive.

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

I think it's much easier to say "it's expensive" than "at great expense". So do you really say something in this way?

 

[Matthew Wai]

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/expense?q=expense See definition#1.

Not a teacher.