make big vs. great progress (2024)

1) He made a big progress on math.
2) He made a great progress on math
3) He made big progress on math.
4) He made great progress on math.

Which ones above are correct? Which one is most common in colloquial English? Thank you!

You can see by comparing the Ngrams that "made great progress" and "made good progress" are used more often. In speech, many people would also say "made a lot of progress".

Google Ngram Viewer

He made great progress on in math.

velisarius said:

You can see by comparing the Ngrams that "made great progress" and "made good progress" are used more often. In speech, many people would also say "made a lot of progress".

Google Ngram Viewer

He made great progress on in math.

Click to expand...

velisarius said:

It's "math" - unless you particularly want to sound British. The OP chose to use the AE version.

Click to expand...

The OP might not hae been aware that there's a better way to express it!

Besides, it's 'maths' in more countries than 'math' - or at least it used to be before the internet came along and ruined it...

Highland Thing said:

The OP might not hae been aware that there's a better way to express it!

Click to expand...

It's not better, it's different. I think you will find that there are several million more AE speakers than BE speakers - it seems pointless to claim that more countries use one form rather than another.

In this forum, we accept all varieties of English and their rules as legitimate -- none better than another. This is not the place to discuss personal preferences, or to argue the legitimacy of the various ways English has developed over time in different places.

As velisarius says, it appears that jokeac is leaning American English. If he tells us otherwise, then people can alter their advice.

I agree with velisarius in post #2 that we talk about "great progress" and "good progress". I only want to say that for me 'great progress' is a more enthusiastic endorsement than 'good progress'. 'Great progress' would be more progress than we usually expect.
'Good progress' is impressive, but may not be as great as 'great progress'.

A more explicit explanation of what you have in mind would be helpful.

Also, note that "made a progress" is incorrect. The indefinite article is not used here. The expression is "to make progress."

(The set phrase "a lot of" is a separate matter. It has its own built-in "a" which is part of the expression, and the whole thing together just means "much."

Andygc said:

It's not better, it's different. I think you will find that there are several million more AE speakers than BE speakers - it seems pointless to claim that more countries use one form rather than another.

Click to expand...

First, it's not pointless if it's true. 'Maths' was used in most British Commonwealth countries - that's a fact that you can look up. Second, I was only joking anyway, as I thought my exclamation mark made clear!! (Two to make sure.)

Cagey said:

In this forum, we accept all varieties of English and their rules as legitimate -- none better than another. This is not the place to discuss personal preferences, or to argue the legitimacy of the various ways English has developed over time in different places.

As velisarius says, it appears that jokeac is leaning American English. If he tells us otherwise, then people can alter their advice.
l.

Click to expand...

Like I said, it was intended as a bit of humour. I'll make a note to myself to tone it down.

On the other hand, there's NO evidence that OP is learning American English, other than that (s)he wrote 'math' instead of 'maths'. And as I said, OP might not have been aware that there's an alternative that's used in many English-speaking countries, and that's why I mentioned it.