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When is it okay to use "many more" in a sentence and when isn't it? I'm writing a group paper and having troubles with the following sentence:

"Music teachers are responsible for many more grades, and in an elementary setting, the music teacher is responsible for every student in the school."

I realize there may be more grammar problems than simply the "many more" problem, but I'm simply wondering why I dislike that part specifically so much. Is this an okay way to use "many more"? I feel like when using the word "more" it typically implies that you are saying more than something and as of now I just don't like many and more being used next to each other like that.

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  • Yes, comparatives take two arguments. In your example, the music teachers are compared implicitly with the other teachers.
    – Lawrence
    May 21, 2016 at 10:51

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Your usage is correct. The noun "grades" is a countable noun, and so "many" is correct usage.

https://www.englishforums.com/English/ManyMoreOrMuchMore/mjmx/post.htm

It's probable that the alliteration (the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words) around "many more" is what makes this seem uncomfortable for you.

Though I'm not sure what you're comparing "more grades" to (we're lacking context in your example), you could restructure your sentence as:

"Music teachers are accountable for many more grades, and, in an elementary setting, they are responsible for every student in the school."

In my opinion, replacing the repeated compound noun "music teacher" with a pronoun and removing the repeated use of "responsible" improves sentence flow.

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  • Thanks! The thing is, she wasn't comparing anything within the paragraph... and so it made me uncomfortable using the word "more".
    – Heather Brunstad
    Apr 23, 2016 at 0:41
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    I'd expect the "more" to be referring back to some other teachers mentioned earlier, with whom the music teachers are being compared.
    – Max Williams
    Jun 20, 2016 at 8:54
  • @Heather Brunstad Yes, Max is correct. If there is no preceding comparator, the sentence is unacceptable. And if it's further away than the previous couple of paragraphs, I'd still not accept it.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Aug 19, 2016 at 12:52
  • Yeah, you've used it correctly but I don't like it either. I would probably say "far more" instead; I just don't like the way "many more" sounds/flows.
    – Ron Kyle
    Sep 18, 2016 at 14:05

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