2017-08-10 Grammar: comparing quantities

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: Use this information to write comparative sentences (with intensifiers) about you and your partners.
Sun is much younger than I am. I am much younger than Faisal. Faisal is much much older than Sun.
Sun has studied English much longer than I have.
= I haven’t studied English nearly as long as Sun has.
Faisal has studied English slightly longer than I have.
= I have studied English almost as long as Faisal has.
= I haven’t studied English quite as long as Faisal has.
My partner goes to sleep at almost the same time as me.
My partner goes to sleep almost as late as I do.
My partner goes to the movies as much as I do.
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Comparing noun quantities: more/less, as much, as many, as little, as few
I drink more water than you. / I drink more glasses of water than you.
You drink less water than me. / You drink less/fewer glasses of water than me.
You don’t drink as much water as me. / You don’t drink as many glasses of water as me.
I don’t drink as little water as you. / I don’t drink as few glasses of water as you.
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Careful:
a little money = a small quantity of money
a little friend = a small friend (in size)
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p. 175 exercise 8 - Interview your partner to find out this information. Then write some comparative sentences to talk about how you’re similar or different.
2 My partner has more rooms in his apartment than I have.
3 My partner understands the same number of languages as I do.
  My partner understands as many languages as I do.
4 My partner would like to have as many children as I would.
  My partner has more children than I would like to have.
5 My partner has visited more countries than I have.
6 My partner has less family members than I have.
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When we use words like “number” and “amount”, grammatically we’re comparing nouns rather than quantities. (See the chart on p. 176.)
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“same” is an ungradable adjective, so we can’t use simple intensifiers or comparatives with it, because two things either are the same, or they’re not