[barbaruse]

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

AS + ADJECTIVE + AS

To compare people, places, events or things, when there is no difference,use as + adjective + as:

• Peter is 24 years old. John is 24 years old. Peter is as old asJohn.

More examples:

• Moscow is as cold as St. Petersburg in the winter.
• Ramona is as happy as Raphael.
• Einstein is as famous as Darwin.
• A tiger is as dangerous as a lion

NOT AS + ADJECTIVE + AS

Difference can also be shown by using not so/as ...as:

• Mont Blanc is not as high as Mount Everest
• Norway is not as sunny as Thailand
• A bicycle is not as expensive as a car
• Arthur is not as intelligent as Albert

COMPARISONS OF QUANTITY

To show difference: more, less, fewer + than
To showno difference: as much as , as many as, as few as, as little as
To show difference: more, less, fewer + than
Examples:

With countable nouns:more / fewer

• Eloise has more children than Chantal.
• Chantal has fewer children thanEloise.
• There are fewerdogs in Cardiff than in Bristol
• I have visited fewer countriesthan my friend has.
• He has read fewer books than she has.

With uncountable nouns: more / less

• Eloise has more money than Chantal.
• Chantal has less money than Eloise.
• I spend less time on homework than you do.
• Cats drink less water than dogs.
• This new dictionary gives more information than the old one.

So, the rule is:

MORE + nouns that are countable or uncountable
FEWER + countable nouns
LESS + uncountable nouns

To show no difference:as much as , as many as, as few as, as little as

• as many as / as few as + countable nouns
• as much as / as little as+ uncountable nouns

Examples:

With countable nouns:

• They have as many children as us.
• We have as many customers as them.
• Tom has as few books as Jane.
• There are as few houses in his village as in mine.
• You know as many people as I do.
• I have visited the States as many times as he has.

With uncountable nouns:

• John eats as much food as Peter.
• Jim hasas little food as Sam.
• You've heard as much news as I have.
• He's had as much success as his brother has.
• They've got as little wateras we have.