Units of Quantity - Part 3: Most, Almost, and Almost All

Emily:	Chris, I’m thinking about something you once said to me about how we have always tended to take most of the customs from our ancestors who were immigrants, and mix and match them with existing ones into something new which suits our needs.
Chris:	Precisely. The process is quite natural, of course, but my point was that it strips the customs of most of their historical context and almost all religious or cultural significance.
Emily:	Furthermore, once adopted, a new custom takes on a life of its own and then… gets exported back abroad as this really cool thing. Then it starts to compete with most of the original customs.
Chris:	Well, now! This seems to be a pretty wild set of conclusions!
Emily:	I think this is exactly what’s happening, Chris!
Chris:	Give me an example.
Emily:	Santa.
Chris:	Santa? Emily, I hope you are not suggesting that most Americans think Santa was taken from the Old World by Coca-Cola for a soda commercial..
Emily:	Oh, please! Santa, or Saint Nick, originates with St. Nicholas, who was a Christian saint and Greek bishop of Myra in the 4th century. As a bishop he wore red and white clothes, and he loved children. You see how that would have been perfect for a soft drink company.
Chris:	A-ha! You do believe in this Coca-Cola conspiracy!
Emily:	No, I’m just teasing you. But, obviously, in a mostly protestant country like the United States, the Catholic part of Nicholas had to kick the bucket.
Chris:	So then, the clothes of the bishop were replaced with the red Santa suit and the bishop’s miter became a floppy hat!
Emily:	Exactly! Let’s continue down the path of custom adoption. In Germany, they celebrate St. Nicholas on the 6th of December. The day before, almost all children clean all of their shoes and put them in front of the fireplace, and the next day when they wake up the shoes are full of goodies. In Holland, they call him Sinterklaas.
Chris:	Oh, that’s why most Americans hang socks on their fireplace on Christmas Eve!
Emily:	Right! Here’s another example of custom adapting in the United States. In Germany, the Christmas Man brings presents for good children on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Chris:	Oh! I see! When I was little, my uncle would dress up like Santa and ask if I was naughty or nice. I would always say that I was nice so he would give me my Christmas presents.
Emily:	And now you know where this custom came from!
Chris:	OK, one more question for our forensic examination of Santa. How did Santa get the reindeer and that beautiful sled he uses to visit most children on Christmas Eve?
Emily:	According to legend, St. Nicholas rode a beautiful white steed. In the 19th century, you have some poems in the US where that horse gets replaced by a reindeer and a sled. Those are based on Scandinavian myths. Two reindeers are called Donder and Blitzen, almost literally thunder and lightning in German.
Chris:	Wow. Pretty sure most of us do not know that.
Emily:	Well, we do now!

Units of Quantity - Part 3: Most, Almost, and Almost All

Most, almost, and almost all are three common quantifiers. All three are used to express nearly or close to the entire amount of something.

I. Most/Most of

Most is an adjective. Like all adjectives, it describes a noun. Most is always used before nouns, to express the majority of something, or a large percent.

Most Americans work forty hours a week. Americans is a noun. Most nights, I go to bed at 11. Nights is a noun.

We use most of before a noun with a determiner (articles, possessives, demonstratives.)

Most of the people at the party are grad students. An article follows most of. Most of my comic books are in perfect condition. My is a possessive.

II. Almost

Almost is an adverb. Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Almost is used before verbs and other adverbs. It means nearly, not quite, or not complete.

I almost missed the bus this morning. I nearly missed the bus. She almost ate the entire pizza. She nearly ate all of the pizza but not quite. He almost finished reading the book last night. He nearly finished reading the book but did not complete it.

Almost goes before the verb it is modifying. However, if the verb is a form of “to be”, almost goes after it.

I am almost done writing my book. There were almost a hundred people there.

III. Almost All

Like most, almost all is used to describe nouns. However, it signals a higher amount than most. Most refers to a large percent of something, but almost all means virtually all. In terms of percentage, most means about 80-90%. Almost all means about 99%.

Almost all professional athletes train hard everyday. Virtually every single professional athlete trains very hard. I know almost all the people at the party. I know every single person at the party except one or two. Almost all tickets to the show were sold. Only a very few tickets remained.

Units of Quantity - Part 3: Most, Almost, and Almost All

Fill in the blank with most, most of, or almost.

Units of Quantity - Part 3: Most, Almost, and Almost All

Fill in the blank with most or almost all.