REPEATED COMPARATIVES AND DOUBLE COMPARATIVES

Double comparatives are phrases commonly used in English to express increasing or decreasing returns. Double comparatives are often employed to underline the importance of doing or not doing a certain activity. Here are some examples of double comparatives:

The more you study, the more you learn.
The more time you take, the better the assignment your turn in.
The less money I spend, the less I have to worry about saving.
The less you worry about the others, the less they will bother you.

Using Double Comparatives

As you can see from these examples, the format of double comparatives is as follows:

The (more / less) + (noun / noun phrase) subject + verb + , + the (more / less) + (noun) subject + verb

Double comparatives with 'more' and 'less' can be used with adjectives in the same way. In this case, the structure places the comparative adjective first:

The + comparative adjective + (noun) + subject + verb, the + comparative adjective + it is + infinitive

a) …….er and …….er

To form this structure we have to add “er” to the adjective to form a comparative adjective. It is used with adjectives and short adverbs; such as, closer and closer, longer and longer.

Examples:

She is getting closer and closer of her mother.

By the end of the twentieth century, couples were waiting longer and longer to marry.

b) more and more

We can use this structure with long adjectives or adverbs ; for example, more and more difficult, more and more slowly.

Examples:

It’s becoming more and more difficult.

He is going more and more slowly.

We don’t repeat comparative adjectives that are used with more; we simple say more and more:

§  Things are getting more and more expensive.

§  This books gets more and more interesting with every chapter.

§  He spoke for over an hour and his explanation got more and more complicated.

Here’s a short quiz for you to test yourself. And don’t forget – keep visiting Speakspeak.com and your English will get better and better!

1.2 DECREASING

In order to indicate that something is decreasing we can use the following structures: fewer and fewer, less and less.

a) Fewer and fewer

It is used with countable nouns.

Example:

Fewer and fewer children are leaving school.

b) Less and less

It is used with uncountable nouns and adjectives.

Example:

He needs less and less money everyday.

2. Double comparatives

Double comparatives describe a cause and effect process. Also, they are written as a sentence with a comma separating the cause and the effect. The structure to use them is the following:

     [the + comparative form] + (subject) + (verb), [the + comparative form] + (subject) + (verb)] 

If you want to find more information about this kind of comparative you can check the website: https://englishwithdickandjane.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/double-comparatives-english-grammar/

Examples:

The more education women get, the later they marry.

The less children studied, the more slowly they learned.

Practice Double Comparatives

Use the following sentence segments to create double comparatives (the good kind) of your own.

1. people / come / party , food / we / need
2. difficult / test , students / study
3. nice / customer service representative / happy / customer
4. high-tech / car , expensive / model
5. full / church , good / pastor
6. funny / comic , sales / cd / have
7. severe / judge , harsh /sentence
8. experienced / technician , satisfying / repair
9. long / play , bored / audience
10. money / spend , money / save

Possible Answers

Here are some possible answers for the exercise.

1. The more people that come to the party, the more food we will need!
2. The more difficult the test is, the more students should study.
3. The nicer the customer service representative is, the happier the customer will be. 
4. The more high-tech the car is, the more expensive the modal will cost. 
5. The fuller the church is, the better the pastor is.
6. The funnier the comic is, the better sales the CD will have.

1. The more severe the judge, the harsher the sentence will be.
2. The more experienced the technician is, the more satisfying the repair will be.
3. The longer the play lasts, the more bored the audience becomes.
4. The more money you spend, the less money you save.  

Mire el vídeo con las explicaciones y ejemplos: