5/29/2020 Comparison: comparisons of equality ( as tall as his father ) - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary

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Comparison: comparisons of equality (as tall as his

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Grammar > Adjectives and adverbs > Adjectives > Comparative and superlative adjectives > Comparison: comparisons of equality (as
tall as his father)

from English Grammar Today

As … as …
If two things are equal in some way, we can use a comparison with as … as …. The comparisons
may involve adjectives (adj) or adverbs (adv) after the first as, and noun phrases (np) or clauses after
the second as:

He’s grown so much. He’s as tall as his father now. (adj + noun phrase)
The team is still as good as it was five years ago. (adj + clause)
The second game didn’t go as well as the first one. (adv + noun phrase)
The company is not performing as successfully as it did when Arthur Carling was the
President. (adv + clause)

When the second part of the comparison is a clause, the clause is often a reduced clause (a clause
with ellipsis) or one with a substitute verb do or a modal verb:

If the sales figures are as bad as predicted, the company will probably go bankrupt. (…as bad as
economists have predicted…)

I worked as hard as I had ever done in my life for my final exam. (…as hard as I had ever worked
in my life …)
We tried as hard as we could.

See also:

Ellipsis
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Noun phrases
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If we use as … as … with a noun phrase, we must use much or little + uncountable noun or many or
few + plural noun:

She had as much work as she needed and did not want to take on any more.
There are as many students in Class 2A as there are in 2B.
He spent as little money as he could.
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Negative forms
We can form the negative of as … as … with not as … as …, or with not so … as … The form not as
… as … is more common:

He didn’t run as fast as he did in the European Championship.

He didn’t pay as much tax this year as last year because he earned less.

She’s not so shy as she used to be. (less common)

I don’t read so many novels now as I used to. (less common)

Popular searches
01 Advice or advise?

02 As well (as)

03 Word formation

04 Adverbs and adverb phrases: position

05 At, on and in (place)

06 Open or opened?

07 Discourse markers (so, right, okay)

08 Verbs

09 As … as

10 If or whether?

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