the more or less complete works vs more or less the complete works

[jutfrank]

I didn't mean to call it grammatical. I just said it's the best, which meant that it's the closest to being grammatical.

There's nothing right about I have more or less the complete works of Tolstoy, in my opinion. Not in terms of meaning or use or grammar.

 

[emsr2d2]

Think of "more or less" as having the same meaning as "Well, yes and no!" That's also a common answer to questions such as those I gave in my previous post (ie "Have you done your homework?")

 

[GoesStation]

The problem with It's more or less a new car is not so much to do with the meaning of the phrase more or less (here understood as synonymous with 'relatively') than with the grammar.

A bit of punctuation could fix that, but it wouldn't make the sentence any more natural: It is, more or less, a new car. Now "more or less" is, I think, an adverbial phrase modifying "is". I removed the contraction from "it is" because we usually stress "is" when we're going to modify it with an adverb.

 

[Alexey86]

It's clearer now. But I still have a question: what would you use instead of 'more or less' in the following examples:

The premise was Warholian — applying a voyeuristic eye to unscripted moments — and so was the aftermath. Millions tuned in, and the Louds became a more or less new type of celebrity. (The New York Times)

...Ryan Adams's version of Oasis's ''Wonderwall,'' Patty Griffin's ''One Big Love'' and Richard Thompson's ''I Feel So Good.''
These more-or-less new recordings are intermingled with the best of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen,
Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and dozens of other classic folk and rock performers. (The New York Times)

Many traditional games became available as software packages, and more-or-less new ones
were developed for the medium, though most of these are minor variations on well-worn themes.
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)


Do you think 'relatively new' is possible?

 

[GoesStation]

It's clearer now. But I still have a question: what would you use instead of 'more or less' in the following examples:

The premise was Warholian — applying a voyeuristic eye to unscripted moments — and so was the aftermath. Millions tuned in, and the Louds became a more or less new type of celebrity. (The New York Times)

...Ryan Adams's version of Oasis's ''Wonderwall,'' Patty Griffin's ''One Big Love'' and Richard Thompson's ''I Feel So Good.''
These more-or-less new recordings are intermingled with the best of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen,
Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and dozens of other classic folk and rock performers. (The New York Times)

Many traditional games became available as software packages, and more-or-less new ones
were developed for the medium, though most of these are minor variations on well-worn themes.
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)


Do you think 'relatively new' is possible?

That's possible. "Sort of" would work in the first one. "More or less" or the hyphenated compound adjective version felt natural to the authors and was accepted by their editors. I wouldn't have accepted them, but yet again, I haven't been consulted.

 

[jutfrank]

All of those examples are fine as they are, but relatively would be a good substitute, yes.

 

[Alexey86]

relatively would be a good substitute, yes.

It would be a good substitute, more or less.