far
distance
You use how far when you are asking about a distance.
How far is it to Seattle?
He asked us how far we had come.
However, don't use ‘far’ when you are stating a distance. Don't say, for example, that something is 10 kilometres ‘far’ from a place. You say that it is 10 kilometres from the place or 10 kilometres away from it.
The hotel is just fifty metres from the ocean.
I was about five miles away from some hills.
You use far in questions and negative sentences to mean ‘a long distance’. For example, if you say that it is not far to a place, you mean that the place is not a long distance from where you are.
Do tell us more about it, Lee. Is it far?
It isn't far now.
I don't live far from here.
Don't use ‘far’ like this in positive sentences. Don't say, for example, that a place is ‘far’. You say that it is far away or a long way away.
He is far away in Australia.
That's up in the Cairngorms, which is quite a long way away.
➜ See away
In modern English, ‘far’ is not used in front of a noun. Don't, for example, talk about ‘far hills’. Instead you use distant, faraway, or far-off.
The bedroom has views of the distant mountains.
I heard the faraway sound of a waterfall.
She dreamed of travelling to far-off places.
degree or extent
You also use far in questions and negative sentences to talk about the degree or extent to which something happens.
How far have you got in developing this?
Prices will not come down very far.
None of us would trust them very far.
used as an intensifier
You use far in front of comparatives to say that something has very much more of a quality than something else. For example, if you say that one thing is far bigger than another, you mean that it is very much bigger than the other thing.
This is a far better picture than the other one.
The situation was far more dangerous than Woodward realized.
Far more in front of a noun means ‘very much more’ or ‘very many more’.
He had to process far more information than before.
Professional training was provided in far more forms than in Europe.
You can also use far in front of too. For example, if you say that something is far too big, you mean that it is very much bigger than it should be.
I was far too polite.
It is far too early to judge.
You can use far in front of too much or too many. For example, if you say that there is far too much of something, you mean that there is a very much greater quantity than is necessary or desirable.
Teachers are being given far too much new information.
Every middle-class child gets far too many toys.
In informal English, you can use way instead of far as an intensifier.
It's way too early to say who will win.
You talk way too much.
I communicate way better with music than with words.