Language: grammar and vocabulary
Comparison structures
Compare with as … as, than, twice as … as and the more … the more, and build each of them into a whole sentence.
You already know how to build a comparative: tall, taller, tallest. This year is about the sentence you put it in. English has a small set of comparison frames, and each one says something the others cannot.
as … as says level
Ravi is as tall as his brother means neither is taller. Both little words are as — never as tall than, never so tall as in a plain statement like this one.
twice as … as multiplies
This rope is twice as long as that one. Three times as long as, half as long as — the number goes in front, and the frame itself never changes.
the … the ties two changes together
The more you read, the more you know. One thing changes and the other changes with it — up with up, or up with down. Both halves start with the, and dropping either one breaks the sentence.
-er and -er says it keeps happening
The queue grew longer and longer. Not one comparison but a running one — the change has not finished. With a long adjective it becomes more and more crowded.
Worked example
Say, in one sentence, that a hall which used to hold two hundred people now holds four hundred.
Four hundred is two lots of two hundred, so this is a multiplying comparison.
Choosing the frame comes before choosing the words — the numbers tell you which frame you need.
Try it together
Let us build three comparisons about the same two brothers, one frame at a time.
The facts: Arun and Vikram are exactly the same height. Arun can run twice round the field in the time Vikram takes to run round it once. And the further Vikram runs, the more tired he gets.
1.They are the same height. Fill both gaps with the same word: "Arun is ____ tall ____ Vikram." Write that word once.
Have a go
Which sentence says that practising and improving go up together?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.