Most and Almost
2024-11-16
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Paola in Bolivia about the usage of the words "most" and "almost."
2Dear teacher,
3I am having some confusion about the words "most" and "almost."
4Sometimes they seem like the same to me, and I wish to know how they can be different.
5Thank you,
6Paola
7I'm happy to answer this question, Paola.
8The word "almost" is an adverb.
9The word "most" can be an adjective, adverb, or quantifier.
10A quantifier is a word that describes how much of something there is.
11The words "more," "some," and "all" are other examples of quantifiers.
12As a quantifier, "most" simply means a majority of a group or the largest part of something.
13However, the phrase "almost all of" means nearly all of something, such as 90 percent or more.
14Some English learners have difficulty knowing when to use the preposition "of" with the words "most" or "almost."
15We cannot put the preposition "of" directly after the adverb "almost".
16Instead, we must use the two words "all of" after "almost" to describe a noun, as in this example:
17Almost all of the children who got sick felt better within 48 hours.
18When we use the word "most" as an adjective, we can simply put a noun directly after it when we are describing something in general, as in this example:
19Most children enjoy playing games.
20However, we use the preposition "of" after the adjective "most" when we describe something specific.
21The following two examples show this:
22Most of the children in his class enjoy playing this game.
23Most of his friends live in the city.
24The adverb "almost" means "very nearly or very close."
25For example, if you have a job to do that takes an hour to finish and you have already worked 55 minutes, you can say:
26I am almost finished.
27As an adverb, the word "most" can describe another adjective, as in this example:
28That was the most beautiful sunset I have seen in a long time.
29We sometimes use "most" -- without the word "the" -- as an adverb after any form of the verb "be."
30The thing I'm most worried about is her health.
31Note, however, that we also often use the word "the" before "most."
32The thing I'm the most worried about is her health.
33For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
34We'd like to hear from you.
35Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
36And please include where you are from in your email, too.
37And that's Ask a Teacher.
38I'm Andrew Smith.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Paola in Bolivia about the usage of the words "most" and "almost." 2Question 3Dear teacher, 4I am having some confusion about the words "most" and "almost." Sometimes they seem like the same to me, and I wish to know how they can be different. 5Thank you, 6Paola 7Answer 8I'm happy to answer this question, Paola. 9The word "almost" is an adverb. The word "most" can be an adjective, adverb, or quantifier. A quantifier is a word that describes how much of something there is. The words "more," "some," and "all" are other examples of quantifiers. 10As a quantifier, "most" simply means a majority of a group or the largest part of something. However, the phrase "almost all of" means nearly all of something, such as 90 percent or more. 11When to use the preposition "of" 12Some English learners have difficulty knowing when to use the preposition "of" with the words "most" or "almost." 13We cannot put the preposition "of" directly after the adverb "almost". Instead, we must use the two words "all of" after "almost" to describe a noun, as in this example: 14Almost all of the children who got sick felt better within 48 hours. 15When we use the word "most" as an adjective, we can simply put a noun directly after it when we are describing something in general, as in this example: 16Most children enjoy playing games. 17However, we use the preposition "of" after the adjective "most" when we describe something specific. The following two examples show this: 18Most of the children in his class enjoy playing this game. 19Most of his friends live in the city. 20More uses of most and almost 21The adverb "almost" means "very nearly or very close." For example, if you have a job to do that takes an hour to finish and you have already worked 55 minutes, you can say: 22I am almost finished. 23As an adverb, the word "most" can describe another adjective, as in this example: 24That was the most beautiful sunset I have seen in a long time. 25We sometimes use "most" -- without the word "the" -- as an adverb after any form of the verb "be." 26The thing I'm most worried about is her health. 27Note, however, that we also often use the word "the" before "most." 28The thing I'm the most worried about is her health. 29For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We'd like to hear from you. Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. And please include where you are from in your email, too. 30And that's Ask a Teacher. 31I'm Andrew Smith. 32Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 33______________________________________________ 34Words in This Story 35preposition -n. a small word that provides additional information about a noun, such as direction, degree or location