1

The sentence is, "She is as tall as I am." I'm having trouble with the "as ... as ..." structure. I understand that the second "as" is a preposition followed by a noun clause. My guess is that the first "as" acts as an adverb which modifies "tall" and that the "as I am" phrase also modifies "tall"?

Improve this question
1
  • This is probably a better question for ELL.SE
    – guifa
    May 3, 2016 at 15:50

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

She is as tall as I am.

You are correct; the second "as" is indeed a preposition; it is in construction with the first "as" which is an adverb of degree modifying "tall".

The "I am" is a comparative clause as complement of the prep "as". Comparative clauses are obligatorily reduced in some way, as your is, since the complement of "am" is left understood.

The meaning is "She is x tall; I am y tall; x=y".

Improve this answer
1
  • This is wrong. Prepositions do not join clauses, conjunctions do. "As" is absolutely not a preposition here. If you want to use a preposition, you need an object to follow, as in "She is as tall as me."
    – surlawda
    May 3, 2016 at 17:55

You must log in to answer this question.