Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

The prices at The Economy Center are as reasonable, if not more reasonable, as those at comparable to the United States.

The words in italics are the possible mistakes according to my book. I think that as reasonable must be followed with an as, what's wrong here?

share|improve this question
Now that the question is being reopened, you could edit it deleting "Nope, this isn't an assignment. UPDATE:" – Carlo_R. Jun 24 '12 at 7:12
@Carlo_R. Okay. – Mouse Hello Jun 24 '12 at 8:04

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

There’s something wrong or missing in the last part of the sentence. As for the first part, there’s a problem with following a comparative adjective, more reasonable, with as. There are a number of ways of dealing with this, such as:

The prices at The Economy Center are as reasonable as, if not more reasonable than, those . . .

The prices at The Economy Center are at least as reasonable as those . . .

The prices at The Economy Center are as reasonable as those . . . if not more so.

share|improve this answer
Nice and neat, thanks! =) – Mouse Hello Jun 24 '12 at 8:08
I think in such constructions it's perfectly okay to use the preposition appropriate to the last of the preceding elements (...as reasonable, if not more reasonable than...). Not much of a sample size, but Google Books finds 10 instances of that phrasing, against only 4 for OP's quoted version with "...if not more reasonable as...". Certainly "as good if not better as" is far less common than "as good if not better than". – FumbleFingers Jun 24 '12 at 20:33

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.