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Kilimanjaro Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

However+adjective (exclamation)

"However nice this dress is!"

Is such an exclamation sentence possible grammatically? Does "how" as it stands alone-excluding "ever"- have the same function?
  

Top answer

" I think you mean, "How nice this dress is" = "I think this dress is really great, don't you agree". "However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" = "this dress is really great, but I'm not going to buy it anyway". Is such an exclamation sentence possible grammatically?

— Philip

  • " I think you mean, "How nice this dress is" = "I think this dress is really great, don't you agree".
  • "However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" = "this dress is really great, but I'm not going to buy it anyway".
  • Is such an exclamation sentence possible grammatically?
  • Does "how" as it stands alone-excluding "ever"- have the same function?
  • I hope this helps.
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6 Answers
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Kilimanjaro"However nice this dress is!"I think you mean, "How nice this dress is" = "I think this dress is really great, don't you agree".


"However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" = "this dress is really great, but I'm not going to buy it anyway".

Is such an exclamation sentence
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On a rare occasion I have heard however substitute for how in such an exclamation.
Nevertheless, it doesn't strike me as good modern English. To my ear it seems old-fashioned to the point of sounding wrong!

CJ
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I'm very glad to find out you native speakers say that usage is rare or wrong, for it's very uncomfortable to read or hear that sentence, though it's not difficult to grasp the meaning.

Thank you!
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"However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" = "this dress is really great, but I'm not going to buy it anyway".

I think Philip is right about this one.
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Yes, U'r right.Emotion: smile

But I think Kilimanjaro was asking as an exclamatory sentence, whether "Ho
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I would take "However nice this dress is" as a concessive clause. So it requires a context in which a concession might be made.

A concessive clause might stand alone in a passage of dialogue, where context provided its completion:


"So you're saying you would never spend $500 on a dress?"

"No, never."

"However nice it was?"

"However nice it
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