COMPARISON AS... ...AS

1. COMPARISION WITH AS... ...AS

GRAMMAR NOTES

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going."

Rita Mae Brown

Comparision as... ...as grammar form

second item

first item

verb

as

as

adjective

The house isn't (is not) as big as the old one. It's as good as you can get for the price

second item

first item

verb

as

adverb

as

It doesn't work as well as we'd hoped. We finished as quickly as we could.

second item

first item

quantity expression

verb

as

as

He doesn't earn as much money as his brother. There aren't as many people as there were last year.

Comparison with as...as

Just, quite and every bit give extra emphasis.

Mamey icecream is just as good as the chocolate one. (The new one is no better.) I work quite as hard as you do. (Don’t try and say you work harder than me!) Her new novel is every bit as exciting as the first one. (If you thought the first one was exciting, you won’t be disappointed.)

Nearly and almost show small differences.

She’s nearly/almost as tall as her mother. (= Her mum is a little taller than she is.) My son earns nearly/almost as much as I do. (= I earn a little more than my son.) I can run nearly/almost as fast as my brother. (= My brother can run a little faster than me.)

Not nearly and nowhere near as show a big difference.

As…as with can / possible means the maximum possible.

It’s as good as you can get. (the best possible) Let me know as soon as possible. (at the earliest possible time) Do as much as you can. (the most possible) Things are as bad as they can be. (very, very bad)

Comparison with not as...as

Not as…as shows one thing is less than another.

The Petronas Towers are 452 metres tall. The Burj Khalifa is 829 meters tall. The Petronas Towers aren’t as tall as the Burj Khalifa.

Not nearly and nowhere near as show a big difference.

UK: 242,595 sq km; Australia: 7,692,024 sq kmThe UK isn’t nearly as big as Australia. The UK is nowhere near as big as Australia. Bus fare = $20; air fare = $110 It isn’t nearly as much by bus. It’s nowhere near as much by bus. (It’s far cheaper by bus.)

Not quite as shows a small difference

UK: 242,595 sq km; Italy: 301,230 sq km The UK isn’t quite as big as Italy. (The UK is nearly as big as Italy.) Visitors this year: 551; visitors last year: 597 There weren’t quite as many visitors as last year.