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Alex+ Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

By far / much

Can I use “much” instead of “by far”? Do they mean absolutely the same? Which is more common?

1. She is by far the oldest. / She is much the oldest?
2. He is by far the cleverest. / He is much the cleverest.
3. He is by far the richest. / He is much the richest.

Thank you in advance.
  

Top answer

They're all good. To my ear, however, "much the" sounds old-fashioned. At least, it isn't used much.

— Philip

  • They're all good.
  • To my ear, however, "much the" sounds old-fashioned.
  • At least, it isn't used much.
  • ]
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7 Answers
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They're all good. To my ear, however, "much the" sounds old-fashioned. At least, it isn't used much. [British?]
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I agree with Philip and would add that if someone habitually used the "much" formulation in examples like these I might suspect them of pretentiousness.
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Thank you for your answers.

What about “quite”? Does it have the same meaning as “by far”?
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Hi, guys

I heard this combination of "much" and "the":

They are (pretty) much the same.

Does it sound oldfashioned as well ?

Thanks !
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MrPernicketyHi, guys

I heard this combination of "much" and "the":

They are (pretty) much the same.

Does it sound oldfashioned as well ?

Thanks !

It sounds fine. But it's different from the other cases. You would never say 'far more the same'.

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Hi,

You can't use "much" instead of "by far" in those sentences, I have never seen it. If it does exist, "by far" is by far the most common.
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In these examples you would always use "by far".

"Much" is incorrect in each of these sentences.

You could say, "She is much older. He is much cleverer. He is much richer."
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