quite | almost | rather + NOUN PHRASE

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 hereYou‘re not going to clam up the whole way, are you?

listen

2 QUITE A WHILE 37930
3 QUITE A LOT 28508
4 QUITE A NUMBER 9117

5 QUITE A CHALLENGE 4535 B1

It's going to be quite a challenge to race before September.

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

Text inspector:

B1
amount (1)
challenge (1)
collection (1)
distance (1)
lack (1)
length (1)
rather (15)

(‘rather’ used correctly

is already B1)

result (1)
series (1)
shock (1)
stir (1)
weak (1)
B2
aspect (1)
basis (1)
combination (1)
contrary (1)
deal (1)
entire (2)

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