Collins Cobuild English Grammar (45 page)

2.120
   In informal speech, people often use a superlative rather than a comparative when they are talking about two things. For example, someone might say
The train is quickest
rather than
The train is quicker
when comparing a train service with a bus service. However, some people think that it is better to use superlatives only when comparing more than two things.

used with ordinal numbers:
the second biggest city

2.121
  
Ordinal numbers
are used with superlatives to show that something has more of a quality than nearly all other things of their kind. For example, if you say that a mountain is
the second highest mountain
, you mean that it is higher than any other mountain except the highest one.

Cancer is
the second biggest
cause of death in Britain.
…
the second most important
man in her life, her hairdresser.
It is
Japan’s third largest
city.

Ordinal numbers are explained in paragraphs
2.232
to
2.239
.

the least

2.122
  When you want to show that something has less of a quality than anything else, you use
the least
followed by an adjective.

This is
the least popular
branch of medicine.

Similarly, when you are talking about a group of things that have less of a quality than other things of their kind, you use
the least
.

…
the least savage
men in the country.

Other ways of comparing things: saying that things are similar

2.123
  Another way of describing things is by saying that something is similar in some way to something else.

talking about things with the same quality

2.124
  If you want to say that a thing or person has as much of a quality as something or someone else, you can use a structure based on the word
as
in front of a qualitative adjective. Usually this adjective is followed by a phrase or clause that also begins with
as
.

This can be

a phrase beginning with the preposition
as

You’re just
as bad as your sister
.
…huge ponds
as big as tennis courts
.
Takings were
as high as ever
.

a clause introduced by
as

Conversation was not
as slow as I feared it would be
.
The village gardens aren’t
as good as they used to be
.

2.125
  When this comparative structure is followed by a phrase consisting of
as
and a pronoun on its own, the pronoun must be an object pronoun such as
me
,
him
, or
her
.

Jane was not as clever as
him
.

However, when the comparative structure is followed by a clause consisting of
as
and a pronoun that is the subject of a clause, then that pronoun must be a subject pronoun such as
I
,
he
or
she
.

They aren’t as clever as
they appear to be
.

2.126
  If it is clear what you are comparing something or someone to, you can omit the phrase or clause.

Frozen peas are just
as good
.

2.127
  You can also use the
as
…
as
… structure to say that something has much more or less of a quality than something else. You do this by putting an expression such as
twice
,
three times
,
ten times
, or
half
in front of the first
as
. For example, if one building is ten metres high and another building is twenty metres high, you can say that the second building is
twice as high as
the first building or that the first building is
half as high as
the second one.

The grass was
twice as tall as in the rest of the field
.
Water is
eight hundred times as dense as air
.

This structure is often used in the same way to refer to qualities that cannot be measured. For example, if you want to say that something is much more useful than something else, you can say that the first thing is
a hundred times as useful as
the second one.

Without this help, rearing our children would be
ten times as hard as it is
.

USAGE NOTE

2.128
  When the
as
…
as
… structure is preceded by
not
, it has the same meaning as
less
…
than
. For example,
I am not as tall as George
means the same as
I am less tall than George
. Some people use
not so
…
as
… instead of
not as
…
as
….

The film is
not as good as the book
.
The young otter is
not so handsome as the old
.

2.129
  Words like
just
,
quite
,
nearly
and
almost
can be used in front of this comparative structure, modifying the comparison with their usual meanings.

Sunburn can be
just as severe as a heat burn
.

The use of these words in comparison is explained in paragraphs
2.157
to
2.168
.

2.130
  When you are using the
as
…
as
… structure you sometimes put a noun after the adjective and before the following phrase or clause. This noun must begin with
a
or
an
. For example, instead of saying
This knife is as good as that one
, you can say
This is as good a knife as that one
.

I’m
as good a cook as
she is.
This was not
as bad a result as
they expected.

Sometimes, instead of using
not
before this structure, you use
not such
followed by
a
or
an
, an adjective, a noun, and
as
.

Water is
not such a good conductor as
metal.

2.131
  Instead of using this
as
…
as
… structure you can use expressions such as
the height of
and
the size of
to show that something is as big as something else, or bigger or smaller.

The tumour was
the size of
a golf ball.
It is roughly
the length of
a man’s arm.

like

2.132
  If something has similar qualities or features to something else, instead of using the
as
…
as
… comparative structure you can say that the first thing is
like
the second one. You do this by using phrases beginning with
like
after
linking verbs
.

He looked
like
an actor.
That sounds
like
an exaggeration.
The whole thing is
like
a bad dream.

Here is a list of the linking verbs used with
like
:

be

feel

look

seem

smell

sound

taste

When you want to say that one thing resembles another, you can use a phrase beginning with
like
after these linking verbs.

It was
like a dream
.
Sometimes I feel
like a prisoner
here.
He looked
like a nice man
.
The houses seemed
like mansions
.
You smell
like a tramp
!
It sounded
like a fine idea
.