Grammar questions

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Grammar questions

Lovely Lana

Grammar questions

Dear colleagues, could you help me here?

1. If you don �t say anything, you �re all _____ likely to lose your job. a) the more b) most

The correct answer is a). Why? What kind of grammar pattern is it? What �s wrong with b)?

Thanks in advance.

4 Mar 2012

ueslteacher

idiom

http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/all_3

all the better, harder, etc.

so much better, harder, etc

We �ll have to work all the harder with two people off sick.

Sophia

4 Mar 2012

Mariethe House

asked in the wordreference forum and this si what I got:

Because this is a very special use of the that only occurs with adjectives in the comparative. Here �s the relevant part of the Oxford English Dictionary entry for the (via the Wordreference dictionary:

6 used adverbially with comparatives to indicate how one amount or degree of something varies in relation to another. ■ (usu. all the ��) used to emphasize the amount or degree to which something is affected.

5 Mar 2012

Jayho

Hi Lana

Answer A uses the grammar pattern all +the + comparative to suggest the idea of �even more�. You can read more about it in Swan�s Practical English Usage 141.2.

For option B to be correct, using the superlative form, it would be expressed as �If you don�t say anything, you will most likely lose your job�.