Teo  +  479748 Thu, 21 Feb 08 11:43 AM 1. He is much the tallest student in the class. 2. He is the very tallest student in the class. What's the difference in meaning between the above two sentences? Teo Joined on Tue, Sep 28 2004 Taiwan Contributing Member 1,631 Thank you very much for your reply.

	nona the brit  +  479750 Thu, 21 Feb 08 11:47 AM 1 - He is a lot taller than all the other students 2 - He might be only 2mm taller than the next tallest. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Teo  +  479766 Thu, 21 Feb 08 12:21 PM 3. He is much taller than she. 4. He is even taller than she. What's the difference in meaning between the above two sentences? Teo

	Grammar Geek  +  479803 Thu, 21 Feb 08 01:56 PM Teo “ 3. He is much taller than she. 4. He is even taller than she. What's the difference in meaning between the above two sentences? ” 3 - we have no sense of how tall she is, only that he is significantly taller that she is 4 - she is tall herself, but he is taller yet Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,683 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Teo  +  480092 Fri, 22 Feb 08 02:51 AM 2. He is the very tallest student in the class. 5. She is the very most beautiful girl in the class. #2 is correct. Is #5 also acceptable? Teo

	Grammar Geek  +  480264 Fri, 22 Feb 08 02:24 PM Teo “2. He is the very tallest student in the class.   5. She is the very most beautiful girl in the class. #2 is correct. Is #5 also acceptable? ” 2 is redundant - if he's the tallest, he's the tallest. You can't be "more tallest" or "very tallest." However, even so, "very tallest" can be used colloquially to emphasize just how tall he is. 5 is not correct. If she's the most beautiful, she's the most beautiful. You can't use "very" and even colloquially, that won't work. Grammar Geek