“Much More” – Meaning & Correct Use (Helpful Examples)

“More” is a good word we can use to show the quantity of something. “Much” is another great word to do so. However, is it possible to combine them and come up with the phrase “much more?” This article will explore all you need to know about it.

What Does “Much More” Mean?

“Much more” means that something is more valuable or useful to somebody than something else. We can use “much more” as a quantifiable term to show how something ranks highly compared to other similar things in a context. It’s most common to show likelihood.

To help you understand what we mean by that, we’ll show you some examples:

• I’m much more likely to go there now that I know you’ll be with me.
• I’m much more inclined to do something at home rather than out.

As you can see, we can use “much more” to show our preferences or the likelihood that we might do something. It’s a great way to show that we’re happy to rank the activity higher than usual, and it typically comes with an “if” clause that explains what has caused this increased desire.

Examples Of How To Use “Much More” In A Sentence

You might benefit from a few more examples, and we’ve got them for you. Make sure you pay attention to the sentences as a whole, so you know what to look for each time we use “much more.”

1. I’m much more likely to see him now that he’s free from prison.
2. They’re much more inclined to do those things together now.
3. I’m much more likely to go there if you recommend it to me after your visit.
4. We are much more surprised that he wanted to do that!
5. She was much more interested in finding out why I was following her than I thought she would be.
6. It was much more of a bore than I thought it would be.
7. I am much more interested in sports than I am in fictional movies.

“Much more” is a quantifiable phrase. We use it when we want to compare the appeal of two or more things. It mostly comes from personal preferences or the preferences of others, though we can use it in many cases to value two things against each other.

Interestingly, we can’t use “much more” in certain cases where the adjective following “more” is one or two syllables. The same rules apply here as the ones that apply when using “more” on their own.

For example:

• Much more calm
• Much more happy

Both of these examples are incorrect. While they both work to quantify our level of “calm” or “happy,” we do not use “much more” in these cases. Instead, we would do the following:

• Much calmer
• Much happier

This is a common rule that applies when using the phrase “more.” We have to replace the one and two-syllable adjectives with an “-er” ending instead of using “more.”

Technically, both “more happy” and “happier” are correct, but common English convention teaches us that “happier” is always the better choice.

Is It Proper To Say “Much More”?

Now that we’ve shown you all there is to know about “much more,” it’s time to look at the properness of the phrase. Of course, there will always be certain kinds of English speakers that will disagree on whether or not something is truly “proper.”

“Much more” is proper and grammatically correct. You can use it in just about any context, and no one will mind or call you out from improper English. However, there are some valid reasons why you might not want to use it with formal writing.

For the most part, “much more” denotes personal preferences. These are things that we might be happy to share with people in spoken English. Spoken English generally follows informal rules, which is why “much more” is proper and likely here.

However, we do not typically want to discuss personal preferences in the same way with formal writing. Therefore, we try not to use quantifiable phrases like this because there is no legitimate use for them.

As we’ve mentioned, it depends on the person you ask.

Many people are happy to use “much more” to quantify something both formally and informally. However, there will always be those who believe phrases like “much more” simply do not have a place with formal writing.

You’ll want to make sure you know who you’re writing to before using a phrase like this. The chances are that they won’t mind it at all, but you never know until you try it.

Is “So Much More” Grammatically Correct?

We can go even further on the properness scale by using the phrase “so much more.” Suddenly, we’ve introduced “so” to the phrase, which is an even stronger quantifier than before.

“So much more” is grammatically correct. We use “so” as an emphasizer to show that our opinion or preference greatly outweighs the thing or things we compare it to.

Again, some people will argue that “so” is improper and informal. However, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with using it in any sentence structure, and there are plenty of instances where you can use it to describe a thing you value over others.

• I am so much more confident in my abilities now that I’ve had all this practice.
• He is so much more charming now that I’ve seen what he can do.
• You are so much more impressive now that I’ve been on the other end of the stick!

“Much More” – Synonyms

Finally, you might benefit from learning about some alternatives and synonyms. These are all really great ways to quantify opinions and preferences. You can use them whenever you want to find a suitable word to replace “much more.”

• More
• Much
• So
• Noticeably
• Very much so
• A lot more
• Far more
• Considerably more

All of these synonyms are great choices to replace “much more.” We can use various adverbs like “considerably” or “far” to describe “more” as the quantifier.

You may also like: “Much More” or “Many More” – Difference & Usage Guide