WAEC 2018 English Language · Question 127

He spends a … deal of his time studying.

Question

From the words or group of words lettered A to D, choose the word or group of words that best completes each of the following sentences. He spends a ______ deal of his time studying.

A.large
B.great
C.big
D.huge

Answer: B. great

Explanation written with AI and checked against the answer key

Analyze the question: The sentence has a blank before "deal", so we need the adjective that collocates with "deal" in the expression meaning "a lot of."

Explain the concept: "A great deal of" is a fixed English expression (a collocation) meaning "a large amount of." It is used with uncountable nouns, for example:

a great deal of money
a great deal of time
a great deal of effort

Other words like large, big, and huge may carry a similar meaning of size, but they do not combine with "deal" in standard English. Note that "a large number of" and "a large amount of" are correct, but "a large deal of" is not.

Solution:

The structure is: "a __ deal of + noun."
The only standard idiom with this structure is "a great deal of."
Test each option: • A. "a large deal of": incorrect collocation • B. "a great deal of": correct • C. "a big deal of": incorrect (although "a big deal" alone means something important, it doesn't work with "of" here) • D. "a huge deal of": incorrect

Correct sentence: "He spends a great deal of his time studying."

Tip: Memorize common fixed phrases for the "Lexis and Structure" section of WASSCE and JAMB: a great deal of, a good deal of, a large number of, a large amount of. If a phrase "sounds right" because you've heard it often, it's usually the idiom. Also, "great deal" is always paired with uncountable nouns, while "large number" is paired with countable ones.

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