Common Mistakes : Greatly

Greatly – Adverb

BAD: Living standards have improved greatly

GOOD: Living standards have greatly improved

GOOD: Living standards have improved enormously

BAD: The children greatly cheered me up

GOOD: The children cheered me up a lot

Greatly is usually placed in front of a main verb, especially in passive structures: ‘Your kind offer is greatly appreciated.’ Stories of panic on Wall Street have been greatly exaggerated

To emphasize the meaning of an active verb, use enormously, tremendously or (in informal styles) a lot at the end of the clause: In the last forty years education in China has changed enormously