About ...ほど constructions

Question

Here, I already asked about a sentence containing a ほど construction, and chocolate was so kind to give me a nice, comprehensive answer :=) ("Issues with this sentence")

However, a follow up question came to my mind now, which might even sound a bit silly:
In my textbook, ほど constructions are always used in that way:

インフルエンザの予防注射は思っていたほど痛くなかったです。
Concerning the Influenza immunisation, it didn't hurt to the extent that I thought.

The keypoint: After ほど, a negation follows. And it's always like that in my textbook. "it didn't...to the extent..."

Is it possible for ほど constructions to be followed by a positive statement as well? Like: "Concerning the influenza immunisation, it did hurt to the extent that I thought"? Or are other constructions used for this kind of statement?

Answer 1

Yes ほど can be safely used in positive sentences, but it means something more like "to the point where ～" or "so ～ that ～".

Examples:

• 目に見えるほど大きい。 It is big enough to be visible to the eye.
• びっくりするほど高かった。 It was surprisingly expensive.
• 眠れないほど嬉しいです。 I am too happy to sleep.
• インフルエンザの予防接種は泣き叫ぶほど痛かった。
  The flu shot was so painful that I (almost) cried.