very, much, very much, too much, much too

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

The following usages have always been confusing me:

I am very tired.
I am much tired.

I am very much tired.
I am too much tired.
I am much too tired.

Would anyone kindly explain the above.

Souba73

2

Hi Souba.
Only these are correct:

I am very tired.
I am much too tired.

‘I am very tired’ is a statement of how you are feeling.

I am very tired. I don’t think I’ll come out this evening.
‘I am much too tired’ is an indication of the reason that you do not want to do something or cannot do something.

I am much too tired to answer my emails this evening.
I don’t want to come out with you, I’m much too tired.
It is also possible to use a slightly different structure with the same meaning: “I’m far too tired.”

By the way, you used the wrong tense in your message above:
The following usages have always been confusing me.
The following usages have always confused me.

3

Hi Beeesneees,

Thank you very much for your careful perusal of all my posts and your comments thereon. I shall be ever grateful to you if you could kindly explain/comment/advise on the following queries:

  1. As far as my knowledge goes I know that ‘very’ goes with present participle and and ‘much’ goes with past participle, and there are some exceptions, though. I don’t how to deal with these exceptions like tired etc. I want your advice in this regard.

  2. Kindly explain where is the error in my sentence you have struck through.

Souba73

4

english-test.net/forum/ftopi … tml#559885

5

Hi Beeesneees,

Why are you silent on my query no.1? your explanation for query no.2 is debatable. I shall debate on this issue later after detailed study. Don’t take it otherwise. I respect all the moderators as my teacher. One thing I would like to ask why there are too many e’s in your name.

Souba73

6

Delete

7

Hi James,
Let the moderators comment on this issue first. I shall comment only after theirs with details of reference. Since I promised to Alan not to raise any issue that may confuse beginners(See the debate in the following link), I have been silent for about one year.

english-test.net/forum/ftopic89731-15.html

Souba

8

Souba:

Your humble servant apologizes for commenting on this topic.

I have deleted my comments.

Goodbye,

James

9

Hi James,

Why did you delete your post? Your post was very informative and useful to the learners like me. I would earnestly request you to re-post your deleted comment, otherwise I would leave this forum for ever. I am raising this interesting topics so that all the learners like me may benefit from the comments of the moderators. Don’t think that all the comments made by the senior members of this forum are grammatically correct. Everyone of this forum is a learner of English language, isn’t it. So, don’t belittle yourself- it is my request.

Souba73

10

You requested that I let the moderators “comment on this issue first.”

So I deleted my comments in order to comply with your request.

After they comment, I may or may not add my humble comments.

James

11

I have nothing to add about query 1. You obviously know there are exceptions. Exceptions don’t follow rules. You just have to use them and learn them.

I will not change my mind about what I’ve said regarding query no. 2 so please don’t expect me to enter into debate on the matter.

My nickname:
english-test.net/forum/ftopi … tml#262041

12

You are the best, Bee’s knee’s.

I have come across a sentence while reading that post.

How nice friends I’ve got!
What nice friends I’ve got! Why is the second sentence correct? I am confused. I would have used the first one if I had to in some case.

13

If you used ‘how’ you would be incorrect.
‘What’ is used in an exclamatory manner about something that is particularly good or bad:

What an awful afternoon I’ve had.
What a great day it’s been.
What lovely handwriting.
What awful handwriting.
What great friends I have, that you supported me on that.
What poor friends I have, that you didn’t support me on that.

14

Thank you very much.

How nice it will be to live… Should ‘what’ be used here?

15

‘How’ is correct there, being used to express a feeling (in this case, pleasure).
Sorry, as usual, it’s just not straightforward.

By the way, although I cannot be sure, as there is no more context, I suspect ‘How nice it would be to live…’ is what you need.

16

However, no body has come up to explain the difference between ‘very’ & ‘much’ for qualifying present & past participle. My advice to the learners is to consult the following books:

  1. Good English (Vallins)- page no.49
  2. Current English Usage (F.T. Wood)- page No.248
  3. A Handbook of English Grammer (RW Zandvoort) - Page No.315 Art.929

If you find it difficult to consult these books, I will take the pain to type it for you.

As regard my query no.2 I shall not also enter into any debate, as promised earlier, even though I am not agree with Beeesneees.

17

“… even though I do not agree…”
or
“… even though I am not in agreement …”

No one has suggested that you cannot debate it if you wish. I have simply stated that I don’t see the point in debating it, so I shan’t be joining in. Using the tense you suggest clearly marks out ‘Indian English’ speakers for native English speakers.

18

Hi, Beeesneees,

Thank you very much for your spotting the error. The fact is that I typed the some relevant points from the above books. Suddenly the matter I typed vanished owing to some technical fault. So I typed hurriedly the above post and thus, committed the above mistake.

Further, Though I am Indian, I am always conscious about the errors the common Indians commit.

19

Hi Beeesneees,

Which of the following sentences do you think correct:

I miss you very much.
I very much miss you.

20

Both possible with different meanings.