Similarities and Differences

- Superlatives talk about extremes of differences between people or things.
  - Sue is the oldest, and Charles is the tallest.

- Comparatives talk about relative differences between people or things, but they don’t show the extremes of differences.
  - George is taller than Lisa.
  - Charles is shorter than George.

	Adjectives	Comparatives	Superlatvies
Adjectives One Syllable One Syllable+ -y Two or More Syllables	young easy difficult	younger than easier than more difficult than less difficult than	the youngest the easiest the most difficult the least difficult
Adverbs	carefully	more carefully than less carefully than	the most carefully the least carefully
Verbs	weigh	weigh more than weigh less than	weight the most weigh the least
Nouns	money	more money than less money than	the most money the least money

Expressing similarity
- To express similarity between people or things, you can use as … as
  - John is as tall as Ann.
  - OR Ann is as tall as John.
- To emphasize the amount of similarity, you can add: exactly, almost, nearly, not quite, just about, or practically:
  - John is exactly as tall as Ann.
  - OR Ann is exactly as tall as John.
  - Mark is (just about / practically / not quite / nearly / almost) as tall as John.
Expressing difference
- Another way to express difference is by using a negative not as … as
  - Lisa is not as tall as Mark.
- You can emphasize the amount of difference by adding not nearly, nowhere near, not anywhere near
  - Lisa (not nearly / nowhere near / not anywhere near) as tall as Ann.

Like comparatives and superlatives, as … as and negative as … as can be used with all parts of speech.

Parts of Speech
Adjectives	Mark is not as tall as John.
Adverbs	Ann does work as quickly as George.
Nouns	Lisa does not have as much money as Mark. Ann does not have as many friends as Mark.
Verbs	John works as much as Ann.

Parts of Speech
Clauses	Mark works as hard as Ann works. Lisa is not as tall as Ann is.
Reduced Clauses	John works as hard as Ann does.
Noun Phrases	John works as hard as Ann. Lisa is not as tall as Ann.
Subject Pronouns	Ann works as hard as I/you/he/she/we/they.

Subject pronouns are are rarely used, except in formal situations. Reduced clauses are normally used instead.
- - Ann works as hard as I do.
- Object Pronouns
  - Ann works as hard as me/you/her/him/us/them.
Object pronouns are very common in conversation and informal writing.
- Possessive Pronouns
  - Ann’s hair is not as short as mine.