COMPARATIVE CLAUSES

 the preposition expressed in the matrix clause is compared with a preposition expressed in the
subordinate clause.
o words that are repeated in both clauses may be omitted in the subordinate clause

 Jane is as healthy as her sister [is].  comparison of equivalence

 Jane is healthier than her sister [is].  comparison of nonequivalence

 the clause element that specifies the standard of comparison is comparative element (as
healthy, healthier)
 the basis of comparison is the entity that is compared  Jane’s sister

 Don is sensitive enough to understand your feelings

 comparison of sufficiency
 Marilyn was too polite to say anything about my clothes.
 comparison of excess

 comparison of equivalence, nonequivalence and excess are nonassertive  using nonassertive

forms
 She works as hard as she ever did. [harder than]
 He eats vegetables as much as [more than] any other food.

Clause functions of the comparative element

 the comp-element of a comparative construction can be any of the clause elements apart
from the verb
o Subject  More people use this brand than use any other window cleaning fluid.
o Direct object  She knows more history than most people know.
o Indirect object  That toy has given more children happiness than any other toy has.
o Subject complement  James is more relaxed than he used to be.
o Object complement  She thinks her children more obedient than they were last
year.
o Adverbial  You’ve been working much harder than I have.
o Prepositional complement  She’s applied for more jobs than Joyce has.

 there’s a type of nonclausal comparison in which more…than, less… than, as…as are followed
by an explicit standard of comparison
 I weigh more than 200 pounds. Our factory consumes as much as 500 tons of
fuel. The strike was nothing less than a national catastrophe.

 if there’s more + adjective  ambiguity [more as a quantifier for the noun phrase]

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  the modifying sequences more of a… and less of a… occur with gradable singular noun
heads
 He’s more of a fool than I thought he was.
 It was less of a success than I imagined it would be.

 nonclausal comparison  I’m more than happy to hear that.

 instead of as…as, we can use so…as

 He0s not so naughty as he was.

Ellipsis in comparative clauses

 likely to happen when the part of the subordinate clause is a repetition of something in the
matrix clause  in comparative construction, ellipsis is the rule rather than exception

 the comp-element is the hinge between the matrix clause and the comparative clause
o it specifies the standard of comparison

 ambiguity can happen  He loves his dog more than his children.

Partial contrasts¸

 a contrast of at least one variable is required between two clauses

 the contrast may affect only tense or the addition of a modal auxiliary
 I hear it more clearly than I did [than I used to hear it]
 I get up later than I should [than I should get up]

 if the contrast lies only in tense of the verb it can be expressed through adverbial
 She’ll enjoy it more than [she enjoyed it] last year.i

Enough and too

 there are comparative constructions that express the contrasting notions of sufficiency and
excess chiefly with enough and too followed by a to-infinitive clauses

 They are rich enough to own a car. ▪ The book is simple enough to understand.
 They are not too poor to own a car. ▪ The book is not too difficult to understand.
 She’s old enough to do some work. ▪ She’s too old to do any work.
 It moves too quickly for most people to see it.
 He was old enough for us to talk to him seriously.

 when there’s no subject in the infinitive clause, it is identified with the superordinate subject or
with an indefinite subject
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  She writes quickly enough to finish the paper on time [for her to finish…]

 the infinitive clause may be omitted

 enough of a… and too much of a… may be constructed with gradable nouns

 He’s enough/too much of a coward to do that.

So… (that) and such… (that)

 the correlatives so…that and such…that introduce constructions that combine the notion of
sufficiency or excess with that of result
 It’s so good a movie that we mustn’t miss it.
 It was such a pleasant day that I didn’t want to go to school.
 It flies so fast that it can beat the speed record.

 mogu biti parafrazirani s too ili s enough

 when so is used alone with a verb and such is used with a noun, that is not premodified, they
express a high degree and the construction conveys the notion of result
 I so enjoyed it that I’m determined to go again.
 There was such a crowd that we couldn’t see a thing.

 can be without so  I was so tired that I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

 I was that tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
- substitiution of that for so and omitting the subordinator that

 construction so/such…as (formal construction) + the infinitive is sometimes used in place of

so/such with a that-clause

 His temper was so violent as to make even his closest companions fear him.
 His temper was so violent that even his closest companions feared him.