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I would like to ask you if the expression "It is not easy that much." is correct.

I know, instead, I can use "It is not that easy.". But out of curiosity, I wonder if that one is also able to be used.(<-Also, is this a correct sentence? Sorry for asking one more question.)

Thank you. :)

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Question 1/

It is not easy that much is not a sentence that would ever be used, although I think grammatically it is actually OK, as it follows the same structure as say:

It is not easy at all - fine

It is not easy in the slightest - fine

It is not easy that much - sounds weird. As you said, "It is not that easy" would be said instead.

Question 2/

I wonder if that one is also able to be used

Again, grammatically there is no issue, but this sentence sounds a bit "clunky"(for want of a better word). Simply replacing "is also able" with "can" makes it much better:

"I wonder if that one can also be used"

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  • I tried, but I can't improve on this answer. – Shavais Oct 21 '16 at 17:09
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    I don't think that not [adjective] that much is ever grammatically valid - it's certainly completely unacceptable with easy. The standard form is not that [adjective]. – FumbleFingers Oct 21 '16 at 17:24
  • @Tom B, Thank you for the answer. I am so thankful that you also even answered my second question. So helpfu to me. But, as boatseller explained kindly about cases of exceptions in the other answer, I am confused. Would you give a bit of explanation about that, please? – Smart Humanism Oct 22 '16 at 15:17
  • And as for the expression "I wonder if that one is also able to be used.", would people regard it as wrong if I use that expression, like in daily conversation or writing essay homework or college assignment? – Smart Humanism Oct 22 '16 at 15:21
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    Sorry - I am not clear about what you need more explanation about. As for using "am able" instead of "can", the two mean the same so it cannot be regarded as wrong. But in speech, saying for instance: "I am able to do that for you" instead of "I can do that for" sounds less natural. It is the kind of distinction you don't need to worry about if you just want to convey a meaning, but if you want to sound like a native speaker, you should prefer "can" in this situation. – Tom B Oct 22 '16 at 20:51
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Well, you can make it work but that would depend on the context.

This job used to be really simple, now, it's not easy that much anymore.

or

A: Do you think I can do this in less than 5 minutes every day?

B: No way, it's not easy that much.

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  • Any explanation for the downvote? Then totally unwarranted. – Johns-305 Oct 22 '16 at 11:54
  • Thank you for the nice answer, boatseller. But I am confused(I am not the one who downvoted your answer.) that another answer above says it is not correct. Which is right? I am so confused. – Smart Humanism Oct 22 '16 at 15:11
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    @SmartHumanism No idea who downvoted it. Doesn't matter, they're still wrong. My point is that you can make those words in that order work in certain constructs such as my examples. While there might be better ways to say it, my examples aren't wrong and don't sound wrong when uttered with the right inflection. – Johns-305 Oct 22 '16 at 15:16
  • I upvoted your answer so It has become zero. Sorry for that. But I do not cleary understand that "They're still wrong." but at the same time "those aren't wrong.". Do you mean, as regarded separately, the expressions are wrong but, in the examples you made up, they are correct? – Smart Humanism Oct 22 '16 at 15:24

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