2017-12-07 Grammar: comparing quantities

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Some quantifiers also have comparatives:
much -> more
many -> more
few -> fewer
little -> less
“less” is sometimes used for countable nouns, but “fewer” can’t be used for uncountable nouns
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You can compare quantity with intensifiers and “as...as” the same way you can compare adjectives and adverbs (from yesterday). Just use the quantifiers and comparatives instead.
He is richer than she is. -> He has more money than she has.
She is nearly as rich as he is. -> She has nearly as much money as he has.
He is far less rich than she is. -> He has far less money than she has.
He is much lonelier than she is. -> He has many fewer friends than she has.
	(Use “many” as an intensifier instead of “much” for countable nouns.)
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p. 175 exercise 8 - Write the information for you and your partner, then make sentences about it. (You can probably write at least two sentences about most of this information.)
1 I have taken the TOEFL test as few times as my partner.
  (Neither I nor my partner has taken the TOEFL test.)
2 My partner has less rooms than I have. / I have more rooms than my partner.
  My partner has many more rooms than I have.
  My partner has six more rooms than I have.
  My partner has twice as many rooms as I have.
  (My partner and I have the same number of rooms. - This compares the similarity of nouns directly instead of comparing the quantity.)
  There are more rooms in my house than in my partner’s house.
3 I can understand almost as many languages as he can.
  My partner speaks twice as many languages as me.
  I speak half as many languages as my partner.
  My partner speaks two more languages than me.
  I speak two fewer languages than my partner.
4 He’d like to have just as many children as me.
  Faisal has many more children than Dison wants.
  Faisal has more children than I have rooms. (He has 5 children. I have 3 rooms.)
  Faisal has more children than rooms. (He has 5 children. He has 4 rooms.)
5 My partner has visited fewer countries than me.
  My partner has not visited as many countries as me.
  My partner has visited many more countries than me.
6 My partner has slightly fewer siblings than me.
  I have many more cousins than my partner.
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A/B = 2: A is twice as much as B. B is half as much as A.
(A/B = 3: A is three times as much as B. B is one-third as much as A.)
A - B = 2: A is two more than B. B is two fewer than A.
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Irregular comparatives:
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My cousins live much farther away than yours.
This food is better than my breakfast.
I speak Spanish better than I speak French.
The weather today is worse than yesterday.