Wednesday, October 1, 2014

almost: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, October 1, 2014

almost
Like “only,” “almost” must come immediately before the word or phrase it modifies: “She almost gave a million dollars to the museum” means something quite different from, “She gave almost a million dollars to the museum.” Right? So you shouldn’t write, “There was almost a riotous reaction when the will was read” when what you mean is, “There was an almost riotous reaction.”

1 comment:

  1. I love your posts. I read them regularly.

    On this one however, I have a question.

    “There was almost a riotous reaction when the will was read” seems to indicate that a riotous reaction nearly broke out.

    While “There was an almost riotous reaction.” deals with the intensity of the reaction.

    Is the first use grammatically incorrect?

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