Advanced structures for comparing and contrasting

Advanced Structures

for comparing and contrasting

Comparatives and superlatives

To modify the meaning of comparative adjectives or adverbs, we can use words like far, much or a little. The expressions a bit and a lot / way (more, etc.) are more informal, and slightly, somewhat, marginally, considerably, vastly, significantly are more formal or academic. For emphasis, we can use any before the adjective or adverb in questions and negatives, or no in positive statements, e.g. He was feeling no better today.

In formal language, to avoid repetition after than, we can use that/those of + noun, or the one(s), e.g. These shoes are nicer than the ones I saw earlier. In informal language, we tend to use the possessive pronoun (hers, yours, my father's, etc.).

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We can use the more/less + verb, or the + comparative adjective/adverb, to describe how when something changes, it causes something else to change at the same time. With better, this is sometimes shortened, e.g. The bigger, the better. The sooner, the better.

To emphasize a superlative adjective or adverb, we can use by far, far and away, or easily.

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equatives

In a negative sentence, we can use nowhere near, or nothing like instead of not for emphasis before as + adjective/adverb + as.

To emphasize similarity, we can use just or every bit before as + adjective/adverb + as.

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To make exact numerical comparisons, we use words like half/twice/three times + as +adjective/adverb + as + noun phrase. Alternatively, we can use a noun or noun phrase followed by of, e.g. twice the speed of, ten times the value of, a quarter of the price of.

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other ways of comparing and contrasting

The adverbs similarly or likewise introduce a fact that is similar to the one in the previous sentence. To introduce a contrasting fact, we use by contrast, by/in comparison, however, or on the other hand.

We can use the conjunctions whereas or while (or whilst, more formally) to join two contrasting clauses.

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Another way to state a comparison is to say that two things differ or are similar, followed by in terms of + noun, or in that + clause.

To compare two nouns, we can use compared with/to, or in comparison with/to + noun.

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like and as are often confused. like/unlike + noun describes whether something is the same or different. as + noun means 'in the role of' We use as, not like, before a preposition. We can use both as and like before a verb; like is more informal.

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