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Comparing nouns

by John January 12, 2021

How do we compare nouns in English?

In our last blog, we learned about nouns, adjectives and comparatives.
Today we are going to learn another way to compare nouns using adjectives.

That’s as good as it gets!

Comparing nouns

When growing up, did you and your siblings measure your height to see who was taller?
At one point maybe you said “I am taller than my sister”.

What if you were not taller than her and she was not taller than you?
How can we express that you are the same height?

To express that two nouns are the same, we can use as…as!

If you are 1.5 meters tall and your sister is also 1.5 meters tall, you could say:
“I am as tall as my sister.”

The structure is: As + Adjective + as

Have a look at some more examples:

I am 25 years old, Mark is 25 years old = I am as old as Mark.

Dinner was nice. Desert was nice. = The desert was as nice as the dinner.

Porches are fast. Ferraris are fast. = Porches are as fast as Ferraris.

As...as

We use as + adjective + as to compare nouns that are the same

Not as...as

What if we want to say that the two things are not the same?
It is quite easy. In fact, all we have to do is add not after the auxiliary verb.

If Simon is 1.5 meters tall and Mark is 1.6 meters tall, we can say:

“Simon is not as tall as Mark”

If we add another person: Brian – 2 Meters tall, we can then say:

“Simon and Mark are not as tall as Brian.”

 

More examples of this are:

“Ireland isn’t as hot as Spain.”

“He is not as handsome as Leonardo di Caprio”

“I don’t have as much money as Mark Zuckerberg”

Not as...as

We use not + as + adjective + as to compare nouns that are not the same

Test Yourself

Compare the nouns using as…as or not as…as

Example: Michael has 100euro. Dwight has 100euro

Answer: Michael has as much money as Dwight.

 

  1. Facebook is very popular. Twitter has the same popularity.
  2. Central school is very good. Other schools are ok.
  3. Lord of the rings is amazing. The Hobbit is good.
  4. My jumper is blue. Jim’s jumper is the same colour.

Test Yourself

Choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

140

Comparing nouns

1 / 7

The UK is as ________ Ireland.

2 / 7

My brother is as ______ my sister.

3 / 7

Friends is ________ the Office.

4 / 7

The students are _______ at English as the teacher.

5 / 7

Nobody is __________ as Einstein.

6 / 7

A car is __________ a Lorry.

7 / 7

Ireland is _________ the United States.

Your score is

Vocabulary

As good as it gets: something is so good and cannot get better

Siblings: brothers and sisters

To measure: to check the size of something with a ruler or measuring tape

Did you enjoy the post on comparing nouns? Please check out part 2 on comparing using as much as and as many as.

Thank you for reading our post. You’ll find more English grammar tips elsewhere on our site and if you’d like information on our English courses in Dublin, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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