English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Why is it wrong to say:
My new PC has cost twice the price of my old one.
The answer key says
My new PC has cost twice as much as my old one.
If I can say
Texas is twice the size of Montana -- twice plus noun
why can't I say
My new PC has cost me twice the price of my old one.
Wrong is probably too strong - less correct describes it better, I think.
The difference is that cost word. Because the example includes 'cost' you already know what it is you are comparing, so the use of 'price' becomes redundant. If you omit 'cost', you can structure the sentence the way you ask: 'My new PC is twice the price of my old one'.
In your Texas/Montana example, a better comparison would be against: "Texas' area is twice the size of Montana". Since an area comparison is implicitly going to deal with size, you wouldn't include both words in the sentence.
