Posts Tagged ‘comparison’

Comparison

November 14th, 2012 in English Learning

Similarity and identity

To say that people or things are identical, we can use as or like. The structures so do I and neither do I are also used to show similarity.

She looks just like her mother.
She likes reading, and so do I.
The baby’s eyes are just the same color as yours.
The papers didn’t come, and neither did the post.

To show differences, we can use the negative forms of these structures.

She doesn’t look like her mother.
The baby’s eyes are not at all the same colour as yours.

Equality

To say that people or things are equal in a particular way, we can use the structure as … as.

I earn as much money as she does.

I am as tall as she is.
She is as cool as cucumber.

Note that much is used with uncountable nouns. Many is used with countable nouns.

In negative comparisons, we use not so…as or not as…as.

She is not as tall as he is.
It was not as good as I thought.

Study the following sentences

The dog is an intelligent animal. The horse is equally intelligent.

We can combine these two sentences using the structure as…as. Structures using more and less are also possible. Study the examples given below.

The horse is as intelligent an animal as the dog. / The horse is no more intelligent than the dog. / The dog is no less intelligent than the horse.
Pooja is industrious. Roopa is equally industrious.
Pooja is as industrious as Roopa. / Roopa is no more industrious than Pooja. / Pooja is no less industrious than Roopa.