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The store is farther from the motel than we expected.

As the comparative form "farther" is a bit distant from "than" in the above sentence, it doesn't sound intuitive in relation with "than we expected" to me who is a non-native English speaker.

So I wonder whether I can use the different sentence like below.

The store is far from the motel, more than we expected.

Any explanations or examples will be appreciated. Thank you.

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    It's perfectly idiomatic as is. farther from {something} than ... or farther than {something} from... The store is farther than we expected from the motel. The store is farther from the motel than we expected.
    – TimR
    Commented Nov 27, 2016 at 19:19
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    I'd be inclined to add an away, as in: The store is farther away from the motel than we expected. Also, if you're looking to eliminate the long distance beween farther and than, you could simply say: We didn't expect the store to be so far from the hotel.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Nov 27, 2016 at 19:33
  • @J.R. Thank you for the comment. :) What change does adding an away make? And in real life which would be more natural or commonly used between: The store is farther away from the motel than we expected. and We didn't expect the store to be so far from the hotel.?
    – Smart Humanism
    Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 13:46
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    It doesn't really change much, it just sounds more conversational to me. And as for those two, they sound equally natural to me. I have no idea which I'd say if I was making that statement. I might even say, "Wow! The store is further away than we thought."
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 15:43
  • @J.R. Thank you for answering. Your comment is very vividly descriptive. I could imagine the scene where you acted as an actor there! :)
    – Smart Humanism
    Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 17:12

2 Answers 2

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You could also restructure the sentence as "The store is farther than we expected from the motel." However, the original sentence you provided sounds perfectly natural. I don't think there's any reason to change it.

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  • Thank you for your answer. I may have thought in a wrong way. Then, is the sentence I wrote as an example in my question also correct and usable?: The store is far from the motel, more than we expected.
    – Smart Humanism
    Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 13:53
  • I think that sentence would sound fine when speaking informally. When writing, you should stick to using the original sentence, though; it sounds smoother and more grammatically correct.
    – williamlue929
    Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 19:01
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You could restructure the sentence as follows to use other comparisons than "farther":

The trip from the motel to the store is longer than we expected.

The distance from the motel to the store is bigger than we expected

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  • Thank you. :) I have got to know other important equivalent expressions due to your answer. I am sorry that I couldn't pick your answer because I can pick only one. Both answers are equivalently nice!
    – Smart Humanism
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 5:31

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