Much as I understand...

R

Roger Hicks

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...that English is a constantly evolving language, why on earth do so many people insert the unnecessary 'As' in front of 'much'? I even had an editor screw up my perfectly good English a while back by inserting this 'As'. It's a comparatively recent innovation. Anyone know when it started? Or why? And any bright ideas about how to stamp it out? I don't (particularly) mind others using what I see as a ghastly neologism, but I get really unhappy when editors try to reduce me to their level.

Cheers,

R.
 
...perhaps I've been writing student evaluations for too long already tonight, but can you provide an example? I'm not sure I follow.
 
Dear David,

For example:

Much as I like steak, I find that nowadays I can't eat a 20-oz fillet the way I used to

or

Much as I admire Obama's achievements, I can't help feeling that his failures are nearly as great.

'As much as I like steak' or 'as much as I admire Obama' are recent coinings: the 'as' was just never there until the last few years.

Cheers,

R.
 
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Granted I'm young, but at least in America I swear the "as" has always been there as far as my lifetime is concerned. Interesting observation. I will strive to remove unnecessary instances of "as" from my language from this point on.
 
Dear David,

Yes, I suspect it's an American invention. But my wife (who is also American) reckons it didn't exist (or wasn't common enough to notice) when she moved to England and married me in 1982. Which makes you young enough to be our son... (I'm sure we'd all have noticed if you were).

Cheers,

R.
 
As much as I hate to admit it Roger, David could be my grandson.

And... as much as I recall, at least in the newspaper venacular,
the AS has been in comon useage since the mid-1960s.

(And that's as much as I can contribute (?) :rolleyes:
 
As a non-native speaker, the "As" helps me distinguish the idiom from "So much as", which has different semantics (at least I thought so ...).
 
Roger, is that all you've got? How about "Where are you AT" instead of the correct "where are you"? Or people who list items as "firstly, secondly and thirdly"? Or all of organized sports — people who never met an adverb they liked — for instance, we played energetic (not energetically) and so forth. How about advertising? Those ad guys pick up on every slang word and popular language corruption extant and incorporate them into their message, all the better to "relate" to the consumer, I suppose.

Hey, don't get me started!
 
I have heard it spoken "As much as" for as long as I can remember. I have thought of it as a contraction of "inasmuch as." Either sounds fine to my ear.
 
As much as possible, we have to accept the dynamic nature of English. :) Many of those changes are annoying, and reflect sheer ignorance. My current peeve is the word "troll" which has suddenly replaced "trawl", even in the New York Times. Next, fishermen will be plying the waves in their "trollers".
 
You are correct Roger, English does evolve. Otherwise we would still be speaking Shakespearean-style, which while it is characterful, is a bit cumbersome.

;)
 
Never bothered by 'as much' but 'once again' irritates me. Why not just 'again?' And don't get me going on those who spell 'lens' as 'lense.' :)
 
And yet.....

And yet.....

Irregardless of your point, and as much as I would like to agree, Amuricans will continue to obsequiously endeavor to murderize the English (Amurican variant, of course) language for the sake of the perpetuation of the Dick-shunary industry, and constant user revisions of Wickipedia.

Don't it jest git yur goat?
 
I never really thought about this, but Roger has a point.. there is a difference in meaning between 'as much as', which basically means to me you're talking about two things equal and 'much as', which for me could be replaced with 'although'.
I'm not a native speaker but I do try to get my grammar right :)
 
S'cuse me chipping-in here, but wasn't Shakespeare overruled by his editor when he wrote 'As Much As You Like It' ?
 
gb hill said:
Roger, Dictionary.com is your friend. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/as I know it was used in the translation of the King James Bible of 1611. Apostle Paul said So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Romans 1:15. It's been used a long time Roger.:)
Click to expand...

Dear Greg,

That's a completely different meaning, as Fred pointed out. Consider the following sentences:

"Much as I admire him, I sometimes find him tedious"

and

"As much as I admire him, I sometimes find him tedious"

The former can be paraphrased, ""Though I admire him [with the implicaion that this is quite a bit, unless you're being ironic], I sometimes find him tedious".

The latter, if it means anything, might be paraphrased, "To the extent that I admire him [with the implication that it is not necessarily all that much], I also find him tedious".

The biblical quote is closer to the latter than the former, but different in meaning again: "As far as I am able, I shall..." or "To the best of my ability, I shall..."

Cheers,

R.
 
FrankS said:
You are correct Roger, English does evolve. Otherwise we would still be speaking Shakespearean-style, which while it is characterful, is a bit cumbersome.

;)
Click to expand...
some still are!....e.g. - " I have just gotten a new lens"....as opposed to "I have just got a new lens" .....perhaps I should have gone to the store to 'getten' it! :D
 
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