Questions tagged [comparative]
For questions about the construction in sentences where two or more things are compared with each other, e.g. "I am taller than you".
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questions
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“than compared to” or “than that of” in comparative?
I got stuck by the following sentence, which can be found here:
If we generate the column proportions, we can see that a higher fraction of plain text emails are spam(209/1195 = 17.5%) than ...
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1answer
42 views
Can I say “less bigger” or “more weaker” and similar phrases?
Suppose that
A is bigger than B
B is bigger than C
Now, is it fine if I say,
Compared to A, B is less bigger than C?
If so, in this context, can I remove the first part in the almost formal ...
0
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1answer
16 views
Clause after “Than” in comparatives?
Can I use a clause after Than?
You are better than when you were yesterday.
People have more chances of dying when they don't fasten their seatbelts than when they do.
You're faster than ...
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3answers
59 views
Should I use “away” after “Farthest/Farther?”
I wish to know if it is okay to use "away" after the superlative/comparative forms of "Far" since I have come across this sentence:
I am the farthest from the grace of my family members.
Is this ...
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2answers
32 views
Is it natural to use “older” about someone without comparing his age to someone else?
An older man came in the door.
Is it natural to use "older" about someone without comparing his age to someone else? If yes, would it be interchangeable with "old"?
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3answers
52 views
The ambiguous meaning of “He is better.”
In A Comprehensive Grammar of The English Language, 7.77 comparison of good, well and ill, it says:
He is better. is ambiguous between:
(a) He is well again.
(b) He is less ill.
I can only ...
0
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1answer
21 views
Grammatical function of comparatives
Can we consider comparative form of adjectives as adjectives, grammatically? I mean, in the following sentence, is "thinner" an adjective?
"You look thinner."
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1answer
22 views
Any comparative adverbs here?
I have much more inspiration, and the editing would be easier.
Is "the editing" a gerund? If so, is "easier" being used as a comparative adjective?
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2answers
65 views
“Tank needs 8 minutes less” or “8 minutes lesser”
Is this question correct?
Tank needs 8 minutes less to empty the tank than it needs to fill it.
Should we use 'lesser' here as 'than' is used for comparison. Please clarify it.
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1answer
44 views
“speaks Italian better” vs “speaks better Italian”
I guess the following sentences are both grammatically correct, but are they different in meaning?
Laura speaks Italian better than Jake.
Laura speaks better Italian than Jake.
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2answers
40 views
Definite article “the” with comparative degree
I came across a sentence using definite article 'the' with comparative degree and an other sentence with out "the".
Can anyone explain when to use 'the' with comparative degree?
Here are the ...
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1answer
49 views
Can I write the amount before the word “cheaper”
The book is $2 cheaper at our shop.
The book is $2 costlier at our shop.
Are the above two sentences fine to native speakers?
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0answers
29 views
Exactly when do you put 'even' before the comparative words?
One of common mistake that non-natives say is something as below.
(B is a non-native here)
A: How was the movie? (expecting a good response)
B: It was better than I expected. (meaning it was ...
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1answer
35 views
The definite before comparative degree
Which is the cheaper of the two?
is it correct or it should be
Which is the cheapest of the two?
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1answer
23 views
some confusing problems about “than”
I wish I could write English with more freedom than is at present possible.
I am confused about the function of “is” in this sentence.
Could you explain the grammar in this sentence?
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2answers
146 views
Why do they say “more richer”?
See this video (a captioned children's story) at 1:34 (1 minute & 34 seconds)
They say, "He becomes even more richer than ever before"
Is more richer idiomatic?
Why don't they say "even much ...
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1answer
36 views
Which is correct: more expensive than “either ”A or B“ or ”both A and B"?
The prices of A, B, and C are 10, 50, 100 dollars, respectively. In this case, which of the following is correct?
C is more expensive than both A and B.
C is more expensive than either A or B.
...
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1answer
38 views
Comparative of Equality meaning the same as Comparative of Majority
In my mother language (Portuguese) , these sentences:
The house looks twice as big as it did in the street.
I'll go as quickly as I can
They mean, when they are translated, this:
The ...
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1answer
43 views
Does “quantitative” have a comparative and a superlative?
While academic fields can create their own algorithms for
field-specific problems, they are all joined together by the same
basic concepts about finding the best and most quantitative ways to
...
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1answer
39 views
Talking about an achievement - “one of the harder thing's I've done”
Is it correct, when talking about an achievement, to say something was:
"...one of the harder things I've done."
I know I should probably say:
"...one of the hardest things I've done"
But for ...
0
votes
1answer
17 views
Comparative form - which one is correct?
Which of the following comparative forms is correct?
It is much cheaper to train doctors, teachers, police and other vital
public service workers than it is to train astronauts or the
...
0
votes
1answer
28 views
The more buckets are allocated, the less the load factor gets
I was writing an answer on StackOverflow and came up with this sentence
The more buckets are allocated, the less the load factor gets. (x ?)
It sounds a bit off to me because of "the more buckets"....
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2answers
25 views
Can “the” be added to “more”?
This calculation method can produce more accurate estimation. Using
the more accurate estimation will lead to a more accurate final result.
Although I know that there is a special sentence ...
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2answers
96 views
When do we use more with adjective?
Is it when the comparative form of an adjective is not available?
For example;
•Conjuring 2 is more horrible than The Nun
•Conjuring 2 is creepier than The Nun
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1answer
61 views
“She is very envious of you…” vs “She is very envious that you…”
I stumbled upon this ELL question where the OP had a sentence
She is very envious that you have more money than she does.
Out of curiosity, I was wondering if I could rewrite it to any of these
...
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2answers
357 views
Using “more” in a sentence without “than”. Grammatical?
If you include the word "more" in a sentence without "than" in spoken English, would it be valid? Example: a talk about steps how to resolve environmental issues.
I'll get into them in more detail ...
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2answers
25 views
Long Ellipsis - Comparative
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
"The current flowing through the transistor positioned at VCC5 is smaller than at VCC3."
The meaning should be:
"The current flowing through the transistor ...
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vote
1answer
1k views
Do “The worstest” exist in english?
I am wondering if the word "the worstest" exists in English? It seems like people sometimes use it.I have never found it in my English grammar book.
I am trying to find if it is a common mistake or ...
2
votes
1answer
77 views
Adjectives for comparative clauses
So far, I learned that we can use the superlatives and comparatives such as:
Bigger/biggest & smaller/smallest
Larger/largest & smaller/smallest
Higher/highest & lower/lowest
and
More/...
3
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1answer
96 views
“twice the height of” is it a noun or an adjective?
[A] Which is correct?
Tower A is twice the height of tower B.
Tower A has twice the height of tower B.
Is the phrase "the height of" used as a noun (height) or as an adjective (high)?
...
1
vote
1answer
340 views
Confusion of comparative adjective and/or adverb in a sentence
An adjective is that which tells something about a noun or a pronoun. And an adverb is that which describes a verb. However, I find sentences where an adjective is used to describe a verb as follows: ...
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2answers
73 views
Can I leave out “the” in “caused by the higher oxygen content of ethanol”?
These higher performance outputs for the ethanol are also caused by the higher oxygen content of ethanol fuel.
If I put higher instead of the higher, the meaning of the sentences will change?
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2answers
11k views
“More close” VS “closer”
I want to express that both of us are not quite right but I am closer. Should I put:
I'm more close to right than you.
I'm closer to right than you.
So, which way is correct to express ...
2
votes
1answer
668 views
“More an X” vs. “More of an X”?
Are the following sentences grammatical?
a. He is more a poet than a novelist in the traditional sense.
b. They are more poets than novelists in the traditional sense.
c. He is more of a ...
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1answer
581 views
I prefer getting up early (rather) than rushing at the last minute
As written in the title:
I prefer getting up early rather than rushing at the last minute.
Why do I have to include ''rather" when it already makes sense if you omit the 'rather' word. So it goes ...
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votes
2answers
58 views
When can two pronouns being compared in a sentence be of different types?
I came across a sentence on one of the pages on stackexchange today -
He resents your being more popular than he is
I always thought that while comparing two pronouns they should always be of the ...
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votes
2answers
1k views
What is the correct form (using a comparative adjective) of the sentence 'no other planet is so big as Jupiter'?
No other planet is bigger than Jupiter.
or
Jupiter is bigger than any other planet.
Which of these is the 'correct form', using a comparative adjective, of the following sentence?
No other ...
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votes
2answers
5k views
“Wronger” and “wrongest” Vs. “more wrong” or “most wrong”
According to what I learnt, there are short and long adjectives.
Short adjectives: one syllable.
Long adjectives: two / three / four syllables.
All of those short adjectives (one syllable) get ...
2
votes
1answer
15k views
Is “more than 2” includes 2?
In technical document in English, I read sentence of "more than 2". I usually just understand it as "two or more" since we generally translate it as similar sentence in Korean. (in Korean, there are ...
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1answer
39 views
Can after “the more…the more…” be a noun, not a noun phrase?
Google Translate gives me this sentence:
He himself felt helpless in communicating, as the more he said the wrong way.
It's not "the more wrong it is", it's just plainly "the wrong way". But since ...
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2answers
56 views
Comparative after or before the noun
I have normally seen people invert the placement of the adjective and put them after the noun when the adjective is a comparative one:
I have good hair - I have hair better than his
I would like to ...
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1answer
46 views
When can we use “the” with comparatives?
I have already found in a book this rule:
The comparative structure includes the only when the comparative takes a noun position, example:
I like the smaller of the two.
May you ...
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votes
2answers
408 views
Is such writing okay in the sentence?
We don't have to worry much, for with as so small an amount as is in his possession he won't go far and we'll eventually catch him.
I've made up this sentence and I'd like to know if the "for with as ...
2
votes
1answer
432 views
Comparative or superlative with plural
Let's sat I have a set of 10 different positive numbers. I want to pick the 4 with the smaller (or smallest?) value. Should I say "the four smaller values" or "the four smallest values"?
In other ...
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1answer
3k views
comparison: is “faster than I thought” correct? [closed]
In a grammar book I find this question:
Find the mistake
The car run faster than I thought.
Does this sentence have a grammar mistake? I guess not.
Edit: I thought "run" is in the simple past ...
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0answers
558 views
Can strong adjectives have comparative and superlative?
I learnt that strong adjectives are "ungradable" so for example the adjective enormous can't be used with intensifiers such as very, slightly, a little, a bit, extremely, terribly, etc. So I wonder if ...
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1answer
176 views
Question about comparative adjective
The question is about filling the blank with the best answer. (with the word given in the parentheses)
1. An eagle flies ........... a sparrow (high)
a. Higher Than
b. More Highly than
...
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2answers
216 views
Is it grammatical to use a comparative form with a definite article?
A: Whose book is this? Yours?
B: Oh, it's Mark's. Mine is -----.
I know * Mine is thinner.* is correct.
How about Mine is the thinner.
Is it grammatical to add the article?
Thanks a lot.
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1answer
43 views
your better life
Can one say:
When he sees your better life, he will be jealous.
Instead of:
When he sees your life, which is better than his, he will be jealous.
Can one say:
When he sees your better house,...
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2answers
3k views
Which is right between these two sentences? “much easier” vs. “more easily”
The children learn a new language much easier than adults.
The children learn a new language more easily than adults.
I think 2 is right because easy modifies the verb, so it needs to be written ...
