"Important" vs "of great importance"
Hello! I hope you all have great days
I've been paying attention to this structure recently, and I found it is really common English; therefore, I'm writing this task, by the way I've done a lot of searches and checked some grammar books such as "grammar in use"es, yet I haven't found even related results, so I really appreciate it if you could guide me.
examples:
Climate change is greatly important for human beings due to the fact that it may bring about myriad catastrophes to both the environment and individuals, in a direct way.
or
Climate change is of great importance for human beings due to the fact that it may bring about myriad catastrophes to both the environment and individuals, in a direct way.

what is the difference between these two particular parts of sentences which I mentioned in the topic? In my opinion, there is a slight nuance between these two and "greatly important" is a little stronger; furthermore, "of great importance" is more formal. Nonetheless, I'm not sure, and I don't know the name of the grammatical rule which is much more significant and critical to me, so I will be glad and thankful to use your guidance.

Question

"Important" vs "of great importance"
Hello! I hope you all have great days
I've been paying attention to this structure recently, and I found it is really common English; therefore, I'm writing this task, by the way I've done a lot of searches and checked some grammar books such as "grammar in use"es, yet I haven't found even related results, so I really appreciate it if you could guide me.
examples:
Climate change is greatly important for human beings due to the fact that it may bring about myriad catastrophes to both the environment and individuals, in a direct way.
or
Climate change is of great importance for human beings due to the fact that it may bring about myriad catastrophes to both the environment and individuals, in a direct way.

what is the difference between these two particular parts of sentences which I mentioned in the topic? In my opinion, there is a slight nuance between these two and "greatly important" is a little stronger; furthermore, "of great importance" is more formal. Nonetheless, I'm not sure, and I don't know the name of the grammatical rule which is much more significant and critical to me, so I will be glad and thankful to use your guidance.

Answer

Overall, I agree with your interpretations of the nuances of the two patterns.

For terminology, let's first look at the ROLE or FUNCTION of the phrase in the sentence. From my reading of the "Oxford Dictionary of English grammar, 2nd edition" (a great resource), I believe that the "Cambridge Grammar of the English Language" would define "of great importance" as a "marked predicative complement", and it would define "great importance" as a "predicative oblique".  By contrast, Quirk's "Comprehensive grammar of the English Language" would define "great importance" as a "prepositional object complement."

As for the MEANING of "of" in this context, it is acting as a "genitive of quality" or a "genitive of description".  
Definition XII of "of" in the "Oxford English Dictionary" describes it this way:
"Indicating a *quality* or other distinguishing mark by which a person or thing is characterized. 
XII.38.a: Indicating a quality possessed by the subject.
Examples: He was an evangelical of moderate views.
All of the parties were not of age.

I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of this answer.  Let's see if anyone can add anything to it! :)

Answers · 2

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