Questions tagged [correlative-comparatives]

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Comparative Correlatives without the verb?

When using comparative correlatives in the context of something "being", can the verb be omitted? A classic example of this is "The more, the merrier.", where we refrain are are &...
thesofakillers's user avatar
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The number is smaller, fewer or less than?

I always make confusion about the correct usage of the comparative for "irregular" adjectives (I don't know if this is the correct term). Recently I had to write "the number of X is ...
robertspierre's user avatar
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Are all three of these sentences equally fine?

Are these all the same? The more we earn, the less careful we become about money. The more we earn, we become less careful about money. The more we earn, the less careful we are about money. I am ...
Hafsa's user avatar
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Writing - another phrase that could replace "goes beyond all bounds of decency"

I am tasked with paraphrasing the writing of others who are substantially better writers than I am. The goal is to keep the language as objectively similar as possible. Just to clarify, "goes ...
tryingtowrite's user avatar
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Unequal Comparison Relations

Comparison He visits his family less frequently than she does He speaks Spanish more frequently than I In the first example why "does" is used after the pronoun she and why "do" ...
user367639's user avatar
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Is “A increases the bigger B becomes” a legal English sentence pattern? Is it really a disguised “the more X, the more Y” pattern?

For many years I’ve been using constructions of two interrelated clauses where each of the two verbs comes with a comparative adverb or adjective of some sort (so either with more or less, or else ...
Mehdi Haghgoo's user avatar
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Unusual usage of 'no sooner ... than ...'

I've encountered a sentence where they would no sooner [A] than they'd [B] apparently means they would rather [B] than [A] I've read that the construction 'no sooner [A] than [B]' is used to ...
Y N's user avatar
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What do you call the sentence structure of “The X-er __, the Y-er __”?

Is there a term for a sentence in the form of "The ___, the ___"? For example: The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear. Further, is this a proper sentence? Is there an implied verb?...
seth10's user avatar
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Omitting one of "the more"s in "the more... the more..." structure

I'd like to know if a sentence like this is grammatically correct: The problem puzzled me the more I thought about it. According to this answer The more...the more structure with normal clause?, ...
Horseface Lucy's user avatar
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Is my syntax correct and is there a better version?

Here is the sentence: "Why is a conjugated system bigger, the smaller the atomic electron transitions?" I mean that when a conjugated system gets bigger, the atomic electron transitions get smaller, ...
Lény's user avatar
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the comparative ... , the comparative ... and predication [duplicate]

I know people have asked about the correlative comparative construction, but none of the previous posts concerns its specific analysis. How would you analyze the boldfaced part of #2 below? The more ...
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Sentence Fragment? "The [adverb] [noun] [verb], the [adverb] [noun] [verb]."

I apologize if this has been asked before, but I cannot find a clear answer. I am analyzing a statement and attempting to determine if it is a fragment or complete sentence. This is the general idea ...
K.C. Glynn's user avatar
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2 answers
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The bigger, the smaller and the greater [closed]

Is my grammar in the following sentence correct? It should also be noted that the bigger the measured distances, the smaller the variability and the greater the accuracy. Or should it be instead be ...
F.Collins's user avatar
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Why does "The X, the Y" require a comma?

I was instructed to add a comma between get and the below, but I was never told why: The further towards the right you get, the more liberal they will be. Why are we taught to do this?
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How to elucidate a *speciously* threefold "correlative comparative" in written form

Consider this sentence: The more complex a law, the more difficult it is to comprehend, the easier it becomes for the experts to evade it. As RegDwigнt has pointed out ...the chain is not ...
m.a.a.'s user avatar
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A questions about correlative comparatives

Which of the following sentences is correct? Or are both correct? The more you pick at your wound, the worse it gets. The more you pick at your wound, the worse it will get. I've looked on many ...
babs's user avatar
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Grammar - Is this type of sentence structure correct [duplicate]

The higher is the ratio of the current debt to total debt, the lower is your utilization rate, and consequently the fewer are the financial options available to you and vice-versa. Is there any rule ...
sushant's user avatar
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Is there a general name for this: "The more you X the more you'll Y"

Some more examples: "The more you want the more you need." "The sooner you mow the lawn the sooner you'll be able to relax." Maybe there's not a name for this specifically, but is there a name for ...
matt's user avatar
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"The more, the merrier!" -- Is this a sentence? If not... what?

Is The more, the merrier! a sentence? It doesn't seem to have a main verb, so I'm inclined to say no, but it certainly functions as a sentence in everyday speech. I can think of three ways of ...
chiastic-security's user avatar
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parallelism: the farther/the more [duplicate]

I edited this phrase: the farther the negative from the lens, the more light needed to expose it properly and the longer the exposure to read: the farther the negative from the lens, the greater ...
Bismarck_Felix's user avatar
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Use of definite article in "the more" and "the less"

Why is the definite article used in expressions like the more and the less? For example, The more you study, the more you know. The less you study, the less you know.
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Could you help me to do a syntax analysis of this sentence?

The more I use Froyo the more new stuff I discover. Does it mean: I more use Froyo, I discover more new stuff.
user3780's user avatar
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30 votes
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What are sentences like "the longer X, the more Y" called and can they be used in formal written English?

What is the type of sentence exemplified below called? Is it appropriate to use it in a scientific paper and formal written English in general? 1. The more pronounced the variation, the more the ...
b.roth's user avatar
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