Comparison (2)

UNIT 98  Comparison (2)

A.   Some adjectives and adverbs have irregular comparative forms:

good/well    better
Let me ask him I know him better than you do.
The garden looks better since you tidied it up

bad/badly   worse
''Is your headache better?''   ''No, it's worse''
The situation was much worse than we expected

far                further(or farther)
I'm very tired. I can't walk much further. (or . . . much farther.)

Further (but not farther) can also mean more or additional

• Let me know immediately if you hear any further news (= any more news)

Note the comparative words more and less

• I smoke more than I used to.

• We've got less time than I thought

B.   Older and elder.

The comparative of old is older

• Tom looks older than he really is. (not elder)

We use elder when we are talking about members of a family. We say (my) elder brother/ sister/son daughter (older is also possible)

• My elder (or older) brother is a pilot.

We use elder only before a noun:

• My brother is older than me. (not elder than me)

C.   Sometimes you can use two comparatives together. For example: harder and harder, more and more, more and more difficult. We use this structure to say that something is changing continuously:

• It's becoming harder and harder to find a job.

• Your English is improving. It's getting better and better.

• It's becoming more and more difficult to find a job

• These days more and more people are learning English.

D.   Note the structure the + comparative the better. For example:

• "What time shall we leave?"     "The sooner the better." (= it will be best if we leave as soon as possible)

''What size box do you want?''     "The bigger the better.'' (= it will be best if the box is as big as possible)

We also use the . . . the . . . (with two comparatives) to say that one thing depends on another thing:

• The warmer the weather, the better I feel.

• The earlier we leave, the sooner we will arrive.

• The more expensive the hotel, the better the service.

• The more electricity you use, the higher your bill will be.

• The more you have, the more you want.