Great Big Informal Large I Good Noun  The

Great, big, and large are all used to talk about size. In general, great is more formal than large, and large is more formal than big. You normally use great to emphasize the importance of someone or something. ...the great English architect, Inigo Jones.However, you can also use great to suggest that something is impressive because of its size. The great bird of prey was a dark smudge against the sun. Big and large are normally used to describe objects, but you can also use big to suggest that something is important or impressive. ...his influence over the big advertisers. You can use large or great, but not big, to describe amounts. ...a large amount of blood on the floor. ...the coming of tourists in great numbers. Both great and big can be used to emphasize the intensity of something, although great is more formal. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you... Most of them act like big fools.

great, big和large均可指大小。总的来说great比large更为正式，而large又比big更正式。great通常强调某人或某物的重要性，例如：the great English architect, Inigo Jones（英格兰伟大的建筑设计师伊尼戈·琼斯）。great也可表示某物因为巨大而令人印象深刻。例如：The great bird of prey was a dark smudge against the sun（逆着太阳望去，那只巨大的猛禽呈一团黑影）。big和great通常用来描述物体，big也可表示某物重要或令人印象深刻，例如：his influence over the big advertisers（他对大广告客户的影响）。large和great可用来形容数量，但是big不可。例如：a large amount of blood on the floor（地板上的一大摊血），the coming of tourists in great numbers（大量游客的到来）。great和big均可用于强调强烈程度，而great更为正式，例如：It gives me great pleasure to welcome you（很荣幸能迎接您的到来），Most of them act like big fools（他们中的大多数人表现得像大傻瓜）。