2

I am not a native speaker. I feel very confused whenever I write sentences like the following using comparative or positive degree.I want native speakers to guide me which of the following sentences are right and why.

  1. Dogs are better than any other animals. (or)
    Dogs are better than any other animal.

I know when it comes to a single dog it is right to say 'A dog is better than any other animal.'

  1. No other animal is as faithful as dogs. (or)
    No other animals are as faithful as dogs.

  2. No other person is as good as them. (or)
    No other people are as good as them. (or)
    No people are as good as them. (or)
    No person is as good as them.

  3. No other student in the class is as good as them. (or)
    No other students in the class are as good as them. (or)
    No student in the class is as good as them.

I know with a singular subject it is right to say 'no other student in the class is as good as John.'

And one more question, I heard many people saying 'I don't want anyone better than you'. Is it more correct to say 'I don't want anyone else better than you.'?

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    The famous maxim 'Guns are better than butter' shows that this construction may be used with a plural noun on one side and a singular-form (though non-count) noun on the other. 'This way is better than the others/other ways' would raise no eyebrows. But with your examples, idiomaticity (how it sounds to most native speakers) is at least as important as grammaticality. I'd avoid 'Dogs are better than any other animal.', 'No other animal is as faithful as dogs.' as needlessly using unbalanced comparators.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Apr 20, 2017 at 10:16
  • Possible duplicate of Why do we use the singular in a comparative sentence?
    – choster
    Aug 23, 2017 at 16:26
  • For countables, there must be parallelism.
    – Lambie
    May 20, 2018 at 21:58

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
-1

The dog is better than any other animal. I like this because "the dog" indicates the species or to be more precise the genus since there are several species I believe.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

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