GLOW: Grammar Lessons On the Web

For the exclusive use of employees of the U.S. Department of State--by Tillyer Associates

Comparing with as...as, so...that, such...that

We compare similar things with as...as.

Use this pattern:

 noun or pronoun  verb as adjective
or adverb
as noun or pronoun

My twin brother is as old as me.
My twin brother is as old as I am.
Ahmed's Mercedes is as expensive as Mahmoud's Jaguar.
Baseball is as popular in America as cricket is in Pakistan.

Note that the last example adds a verb plus a prepositional phrase..."is in Pakistan."

Add not to as...as to express dissimilarity.

Colombia isn't as big as Brazil.
North Korea isn't as rich as South Korea.
The RSO isn't as high-ranking as the Ambassador.
The visa office isn't as busy as it was yesterday.

Sometimes this pattern is more polite than a straightforward comparison.
The word "quite" makes it even more polite.

 Compare: With:
Ecuador is smaller than Peru.
Peru is bigger than Ecuador.
Ecuador isn't quite as big as Peru.

This pattern can be used with adverbs, too.

Ahmed's Mercedes goes as fast as Mahmoud's Jaguar.
The conference didn't last as long as it did last year.
The new FSO doesn't speak Arabic as badly as the last one.
It's raining as heavily today as it was yesterday.

Caution:
What does this mean?

 The new Ambassador speaks to FSNs as politely as Americans.

This sentence is ambiguous; it has two possible meanings:

The new Ambassador speaks to FSNs as politely as he speaks to Americans. The new Ambassador speaks to to FSNs as politely as Americans speak to FSNs.

so...that, such...that

We use so and such to make adjectives and adverbs stronger. We use so before an adjective or an adverb. We use such a before an adjective and a singular noun. We use such before an adjective and a noncount noun or a plural count noun.

This form usually shows a cause and a result:

The foreign minister was so angry that he called his ambassador home.
The men in the motorpool worked so hard on the car that they didn't go home until 8:30. 
Kermit was such a lazy worker that his supervisor fired him.
His country is such a good friend of U.S. that people there don't need visas to visit.
That was such good wine that I bought a whole case of it.
I make such strong coffee that Raymond can't drink it.

Americans drop that when they speak. This omission doesn't change the meaning.

This pattern can be used with many,  few, much, and little.

There were so many people at the reception that we ran out of food.
The Embassy had so few visitors on Friday that we closed early.
 Racquel had so much work to do that she had to come in early.
 Jasper had so little time to type the letter that he made a lot of mistakes.

Practice 1

Practice 2

Practice 3