如何理解too much of a...

有这样一句话：

He was too much of a coward to tell the truth even to his closest friend. 这里面的much of作何解释呢？

本问题由本站特约作者陈根花老师解答如下：

▲too much of a…to do sth 是英语中的一个固定表达，是too…to…句式与much of a…句式的混合用法。其中的too…to…大家比较熟悉，但对much of a … 则相对不那么熟悉。

much of a…虽然有时也用于肯定句，但更多是用于否定句，如与not, too, never等否定词或是含有否定意义的词语连用。对于初学者来说，可以简单地将too much of a 理解为too，而将其后的名词理解为形容词，即将整个结构理解为“太……”，如：

将too much of a coward理解为“太胆怯”；

将too much of a risk理解为“太危险”或“太冒险”；

将too much of a gentleman 理解为“太绅士”；

……

▲关于too much of a 的例句：

Flouting the law was too much of a risk. 藐视法律太危险了。――摘自《新牛津英语双解大词典》

I find this town too much of a backwater. 我觉得这个城镇太闭塞。摘自《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》

There is too much of a competitive element in the sales department. 销售部门竞争太大。――摘自《牛津英语搭配词典》

▲关于too much of a...to do sth 的例句：

I was too much of a coward to argue. 我太胆怯，没有反驳。――摘自《牛津中阶英语词典》

She’s too much of a conformist to wear silly clothes. 她很古板，不穿那些奇装异服。――摘自《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》

He was too much of a gentleman to ask them for any money. 他太绅士气了，不好意思向他们要钱。――摘自《牛津英语搭配词典》