In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 57 in the category of ADVERBs is defined as:
degree adverbs to modify noun phrases.
‘Quite, rather and almost’ are found in the given example sentences, so we have examined them in the iWeb corpus:
1 QUITE A BIT 60525
‘quite a bit’ is listed at B1 in the English Vocabulary Profile. For example:
We‘ve got quite a bit of traveling to do here. You‘re not going to clam up the whole way, are you?
2 QUITE A WHILE 37930
3 QUITE A LOT 28508
4 QUITE A NUMBER 9117
5 QUITE A CHALLENGE 4535 B1
6 QUITE THE CONTRARY 4266 B2 (this is more of a set expression)
7 QUITE A STIR 2522
8 QUITE A DIFFERENCE 2305
9 QUITE A DISTANCE 2208
10 QUITE A SHOCK 1854
1 QUITE A LONG TIME 7670
2 QUITE A LONG WAY 913
3 QUITE A LARGE NUMBER 602
4 QUITE A LARGE AMOUNT 356
5 QUITE A BIG DEAL 334
1 ALMOST A YEAR 24501
2 ALMOST EVERY DAY 15786
3 ALMOST A DECADE 10687
4 ALMOST EVERY TIME 5472
5 ALMOST A MONTH 5389
6 ALMOST A QUARTER 4136
7 ALMOST A WEEK 4093
8 ALMOST A CENTURY 3777
9 ALMOST AN HOUR 3735
10 ALMOST EVERY ASPECT 3655 B2
1 ALMOST EVERY SINGLE DAY 769
2 ALMOST A FULL YEAR 509
3 ALMOST A DAILY BASIS 450 B2
4 ALMOST THE ENTIRE LENGTH 357 B2
5 ALMOST THE ENTIRE TIME 354
(*note ‘rather’ does not function as a ‘degree marker’ in most of the following Ngrams:)
1 RATHER A LOT 888
2 RATHER THE LACK 430
3 RATHER THE FACT 372
4 RATHER THE WAY 321
5 RATHER A WAY 320
6 RATHER THE RESULT 315
7 RATHER A SERIES 311
8 RATHER A MATTER 231
9 RATHER A COLLECTION 204
10 RATHER A COMBINATION 202
1 RATHER A LONG TIME 186
2 RATHER THE OTHER WAY 84
3 RATHER A WEAK TEAM 61
4 RATHER A LONG WAY 46
5 RATHER A MOOT POINT 28
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