Comparison: comparisons of equality (as tall as his father)

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 astall ashis father now. (adj + noun phrase)

The team is still asgoodasit was five years ago. (adj + clause)

The second game didn’t go as wellasthe first one. (adv + noun phrase)

The company is not performing assuccessfullyasit 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.

Noun phrases

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.

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 notso shy as she used to be. (less common)

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

随便看

反思网英语在线翻译词典收录了377474条英语词汇在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的中英文双语翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。