“so much” is an adverb of degree. It’s modifying the verb “hate” to indicate the intensity or degree to which “you” hate “it”. In this case, it’s used to express a high degree of hatred. So, “so much” is an adverbial phrase in this context. The speaker is asking why the listener continues to do something that they apparently dislike to a great extent.
He loved it so much that he continued to show up every week.
“He loved it so much”: This is an independent clause, where “so much” is an adverb of degree modifying the verb “loved” to indicate a high degree of love.
“that he continued to show up every week”: This is a dependent clause introduced by the conjunction “that”. It describes the result or consequence of the high degree of love expressed in the first clause. In other words, his love for “it” was so great that it led to him continuing to show up every week.
So, in this sentence, “so much that” is used to link a cause (a high degree of love) with an effect (continuing to show up every week).
“a lot” is an adverb of degree. It’s modifying the verb “bother” to indicate the intensity or degree to which “you” are bothering “me”. In this case, it’s used to express a high degree or frequency, suggesting that “you” bother “me” frequently or to a great extent. So, “a lot” is an adverbial phrase in this context.
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 18 in the category of Adverbs is defined:
a limited range of adverbs and adverb phrases (‘so much’, ‘a lot’) with verbs to indicate degree or intensity.
► determiners
In Pearson’s GSE, ‘so much‘ and ‘a lot‘ are listed as:
55 B1+ emphasize the amount or degree of something
He‘d changed so much I didn’t recognize him.
34 A2 something happens to a great degree or often
*notice the following ‘that’ clause.
An iWeb search for LEXICAL VERB + SO MUCH + THAT CLAUSE
_VV so much _CST
reveals the following most common preceding lexical verbs:
Here are just the A2 and B1 lexical verbs with this B1 structure in examples written by AI:
- Grown so much that: “The small sapling has grown so much that it now towers over the house.”
- Improved so much that: “Her cooking skills have improved so much that she’s considering opening her own restaurant.”
- Increased so much that: “The demand for electric cars has increased so much that manufacturers are struggling to keep up.”
- Hurt so much that: “His leg hurt so much that he couldn’t walk and had to go to the hospital.”
- Care so much that: “She cares so much about environmental issues that she started her own recycling program in her neighborhood.”
- Means so much that: “Winning this award means so much to me that I can’t help but get emotional.”
- Hurts so much that: “The loss of her pet hurts so much that she can’t even think about getting another one.”
- Grew so much that: “The company grew so much that it had to move to a larger office space.”
- Advanced so much that: “Technology has advanced so much that we can now communicate instantly with people all over the world.”
- Wish so much that: “I wish so much that I could go back in time and relive those moments.” (This sentence uses the “wish that” structure, where “that” introduces a dependent clause expressing a desire or regret. The phrase “so much” is emphasizing the strength of the wish.)
- Matter so much that: “His approval matters so much to me that I always seek his opinion before making a decision.”
These sentences illustrate how each phrase can be used to express a high degree of something and its resulting impact or consequence.
_VV * so much .
1 THANK YOU SO MUCH. 12598
2 LOVE IT SO MUCH. 1600
3 LOVE YOU SO MUCH. 752
4 LOVE THEM SO MUCH. 692
5 LOVED IT SO MUCH. 580
6 HELPED ME SO MUCH. 558
7 LIKE IT SO MUCH.
524
So I think for all these reasons, I like it so much.
PELIC STUDENT: Arabic female level 3 writing class
8 LOVE HIM SO MUCH. 432
9 MISS HIM SO MUCH. 368
10 TAUGHT ME SO MUCH. 333
11 MISS YOU SO MUCH. 332
12 LOVE HER SO MUCH. 321
13 LIKED IT SO MUCH. 286
14 ENJOY IT SO MUCH. 275
15 ENJOYED IT SO MUCH. 244
16 MISS HER SO MUCH. 205
17 APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH. 202
18 GIVEN ME SO MUCH. 180
19 LOVE THIS SO MUCH. 157
20 HATE IT SO MUCH. 153
21 LOVES IT SO MUCH. 140
22 LIKE THEM SO MUCH. 137
23 LOVED THEM SO MUCH. 135
24 LOVED HIM SO MUCH. 129
25 MISS IT SO MUCH. 115
26 LOVED HER SO MUCH. 114
27 ENJOYING IT SO MUCH. 107
28 GIVEN US SO MUCH. 101
29 BOTHER ME SO MUCH. 99
30 TIMES NOT SO MUCH. 92
31 TELL YOU SO MUCH. 77
32 LOVES YOU SO MUCH. 71
33 MISS THEM SO MUCH. 68
34 BOTHERS ME SO MUCH. 66
35 HELPS ME SO MUCH. 60
36 GAVE ME SO MUCH. 58
37 LOVES THEM SO MUCH. 58
38 LIKED THEM SO MUCH. 57
39 HELP YOU SO MUCH. 54
40 LOVES ME SO MUCH. 53
41 HATE THEM SO MUCH. 51
42 APPRECIATE THAT SO MUCH. 50
43 MIND IT SO MUCH. 49
44 HATED IT SO MUCH. 49
45 BOTHERS YOU SO MUCH. 48
1 HELPED ME A LOT.
1958
Reading helped me a lot during those days.
TLC STUDENT: female India B2
2 LIKE IT A LOT . 1819
3 LIKED IT A LOT . 737
4 HELP YOU A LOT . 659
5 TAUGHT ME A LOT . 584
6 USE IT A LOT . 537
7 HELP ME A LOT . 507
8 HELPS ME A LOT . 457
9 ENJOYED IT A LOT . 375
10 LIKE THEM A LOT . 359
11 MOVE AROUND A LOT . 307
12 COUNTS FOR A LOT . 303
13 SEEMS LIKE A LOT . 291
14 TELL YOU A LOT . 251
15 COMES UP A LOT . 218
16 ENJOY IT A LOT . 208
17 HELPED US A LOT . 190
18 LIKE THAT A LOT . 187
19 HELP OUT A LOT . 184
20 LIKE HIM A LOT . 169
21 USE THEM A LOT . 165
22 USING IT A LOT . 165
23 SEEM LIKE A LOT . 162
24 LIKE A LOT . 162
25 HELPS OUT A LOT . 160
26 THROWN AROUND A LOT . 156
27 SOUNDS LIKE A LOT . 149
28 LIKE THIS A LOT . 143
29 MOVING AROUND A LOT . 135
30 MISS HIM A LOT . 135
31 HELPING ME A LOT . 135
32 GET THAT A LOT . 129
33 COST YOU A LOT . 125
34 USED IT A LOT . 123
35 GET ASKED A LOT . 120
36 BOTHERS ME A LOT . 117
37 HELP US A LOT . 114
38 ENJOYING IT A LOT . 111
39 APPRECIATE IT A LOT . 109
40 LIKED HIM A LOT . 100
41 LIKES IT A LOT . 96
42 TEACH YOU A LOT . 96
43 GOING THROUGH A LOT . 84
44 SOUND LIKE A LOT . 83
45 OWE HIM A LOT . 82
A2 vocabulary:
around, bother, bothers, cost, hate, hated, mind, move, moving, out, sound, sounds, thrown
1 SO (RG) MUCH (DA1) 80
3 SO (RG) MUCH (RR) 5
If you can’t decide if ‘much’ is a singular after determiner or just a regular adverb, go with probability.
Note, ‘so much’ and ‘a lot’ can also function as determiners in certain contexts. Determiners are words that introduce and provide context to a noun. When ‘so much’ and ‘a lot’ are used as determiners, they precede a noun and indicate a large quantity or degree of the noun. Here are some examples:
‘So much’: In the sentence “There was so much excitement”, ‘so much’ is a determiner modifying the noun ‘excitement’.
‘A lot’: In the sentence “A lot of people were there”, ‘a lot of’ is a determiner phrase modifying the noun ‘people’.
It’s important to note that the function of these phrases depends on their position and role in the sentence. They can act as adverbs when they modify a verb, adjective, or other adverb, or as determiners when they modify a noun.