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This is taken from part of a reader question (rewritten for clarity):
"I read this sentence - 'He's everything to me and then some" - from a story online. What does 'and then some' mean exactly? Or, is it just that my English is very poor?"
My comments:
I'm afraid this is one of those situations where one understands all the words individually but somehow the meaning of the sentence evades them. It seems one understands it somewhat but can't put a firm hand on it.
It's a common problem facing foreign language learners. You should congratulate yourself for being able to identify the core of the problem (and then some), which means you have some considerable feel for the English language. You know, other people might have read that sentence, had a strange feeling and let go of it without giving it another thought, let alone trying to look it up in a dictionary.
Now that sentence "he means everything to me and then some" means exactly that: he's everything to me and then some (more). Illogical as it may sound in this particular sentence, "and then some" is a colloquial expression (especially) in American English used to introduce something in addition to what's being discussed or used simply for emphasis.
Without the benefit of being given the full context in which that sentence has appeared, I will invent a situation and put "and then some" into context, as an example.
Suppose two girls are talking about a third person. One says, referring to the third party: "Is he a close friend of yours?"
"Yes, he is," replies the other. "In fact, I've known him since we were babies. We played together in kindergarten and have been to the same schools since."
"He's not your boyfriend, is he?" the first girl asks.
"Yes, and no," replies the other. "He's a boyfriend and then some. He's like a brother to me right now. But who knows, I may marry him one day. He means everything to me and then some. He's real special. You keep your eyes off him, ok? He's mine."
The first girl: "Okay, okay, okay."
You get the gist.
Here is an example from a real story. It's about a man (Jonathan Schwartz) who has a million-dollar job (at Sun Microsystems, the computer company that is best known for developing the Java programming language), AND THEN SOME (perks):
"New Sun CEO a millionaire - and then some
By Stephen Shankland, Special to ZDNet
April 28, 2006
Jonathan Schwartz, named Sun Microsystems' new chief executive on Monday, has a base salary of US$1 million, the server and software maker disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Schwartz, 40, also has the possibility of a bonus of another US$2 million; 2 million stock options that vest at the rate of 400,000 per year over five years; 800,000 restricted shares that will be granted if performance criteria are met; and 1.5 million restricted shares that he'll get upon staying for a year.
Also on his perk list is "private jet access for business and reasonable personal use" and coverage of personal security expenses. And if he loses his CEO job, he'll be eligible to receive three times his salary, the filing said."
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