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Comparisons
CHAPTER
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7 It is often necessary to make comparisons in academic writing.
82 The comparison might be the subject of the essay, or might
9 provide evidence for the argument. In all cases it is important
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to explain clearly what is being compared and to make the
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2 comparison as accurate as possible. This unit deals with different
3 forms of comparison and practises their use.
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7 1 Comparison structures
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9 (a) Some studies are based on a comparison:
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The purpose of this study is to compare Chinese and American
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consumers on their propensity to use self-service technology
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in a retail setting . . .
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4 In other cases a comparison provides useful context:
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6 The first attempt to decode the human genome took 10 years;
7 now it can be done in less than a week.
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(b) The two basic comparative forms are:
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40 (i) France is larger than Switzerland.
1 The students were happier after the exam.
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36222 (-er is added to one-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending
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120 Part 2 Elements of writing

(ii) Learning Chinese is more difficult than learning English.

(more . . . is used with other adjectives of two or more syllables)

(c) These comparisons can be modified by the use of adverbs such as

slightly, considerably, significantly and substantially:

France is substantially larger than Switzerland.

Switzerland is slightly smaller than Holland.
Winters in Poland are significantly colder than in Portugal.

(d) Similarity can be noted by the use of as . . . as or the same as:

The population of France is the same as the population of

Britain.
Summers in Tokyo are as wet as in Singapore.

This form can be used for quantitative comparison:

Britain is half as large as France. (also twice as large as, ten

times as fast as)

2 Practice A
I Study the table on the next page, which shows the price of quality
residential property in various cities. Complete the following
comparisons, and write two more.

(a) Residential property in London is twice as expensive

______________ in Rome.

(b) Property in Moscow is ______________ cheaper than in New

York.

(c) Tokyo property is nearly as expensive as property in

______________ .

(d) Singapore has significantly cheaper property ______________

New York.
 121 2.4 Comparisons

1EEE € per sq. m. City

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3 28,000 London
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5 16,500 New York
6 16,200 Moscow
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8 16,000 Paris
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15,850 Tokyo
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1 13,500 Rome
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11,000 Sydney
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82 (e) London is the ______________ expensive of the eight cities,
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3 (g) ___________________________________________________________
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8 3 Forms of comparison
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30 Compare these three possible forms:
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2 Parisian property is more expensive than Roman (property).
3 Property in Paris is more expensive than in Rome.
4 The price of property in Paris is higher than in Rome.
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6 Note that high/ low are used for comparing abstract ideas (e.g. rates)
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8 The birth rate was higher 20 years ago.
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40 more/ less must be used with than + comparison:
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2 This module is more difficult than the last one.
36222 Divorce is less common in Turkey than in Germany.
122 Part 2 Elements of writing

4 Using superlatives (e.g. the largest/

smallest)
When using superlatives take care to define the group, e.g. ‘the cheapest
car’ has no meaning:

the cheapest car in the Ford range/ the fastest car in the USA

the most/ the least are followed by an adjective:

the most interesting example is Ireland . . .

the most/ the fewest are used in relation to numbers:

the fewest students studied biogenetics (i.e. the lowest

number)

5 Practice B
I Study the table, which shows the income of the top ten clubs in world
football. Then read the comparisons. Each sentence contains one
error. Find and correct it.

Club Revenue € m. 2007–8

Real Madrid 366

Manchester United 310

FC Barcelona 304

Bayern Munich 295

Chelsea 270

Arsenal 265

Liverpool 210

AC Milan 205

AS Roma 180

Internazionale 175
 123 2.4 Comparisons

1EEE (a) Real Madrid was the richest club.

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(b) Real Madrid’s income was twice much as AS Roma’s.
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4 (c) FC Barcelona earned significantly less than Manchester United.
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(d) Internazionale had less revenue AC Milan.
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7 (e) Liverpool’s income was slightly lower than AC Milan’s.
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10 6 Practice C
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2 I Study the table below and complete the gaps in the paragraph
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Marriage and divorce rates (per 1,000 population).
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Country Marriage rate Divorce rate
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82 Egypt 10.6 1.5
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20 United States 8.4 4.7
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2 Iran 8.4 0.8
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4 Turkey 8.3 0.6
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6 Japan 6.2 1.9
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8 Russia 5.2 2.9
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Spain 5.2 0.8
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United Kingdom 5.2 3.1
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3 South Africa 4.0 0.9
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5 Libya 3.9 0.3
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The table (a) ______________ marriage and divorce rates in a
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variety of countries. The marriage (b) ______________ ranges
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from 10.6 per thousand in Egypt to 3.9 in Libya, while the rate
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124 Part 2 Elements of writing

of divorce (c) ______________ even more, from 4.7 in the USA to

only 0.3 in Libya. The marriage rate in America is the (d)

______________ as in Iran, which has a (e) ______________

higher rate (f) ______________ Turkey’s. In countries such as

Iran, Turkey and Libya only 10 per cent of marriages appear

to end in divorce, but in Russia and the USA the number

is (g) ______________ half. It seems possible that the

(h) ______________ marriage rate in the USA may be partly

due to second marriages.

7 Practice D
I The table below compares the number of Nobel prize winners
(Literature, Medicine and Physics) for eight countries between 1901
and 2002. Write comparative sentences based on this data.

Country Literature Medicine Physics

USA 12 48 45

France 14 6 8

UK 9 21 19

Germany 7 14 17

Sweden 6 7 4

Italy 5 3 3

Russia 3 – 6

Switzerland – 6 4
 125 2.4 Comparisons

1EEE (a) ___________________________________________________________

France had the highest number of prize winners
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(b) ___________________________________________________________
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(c) ___________________________________________________________
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(d) ___________________________________________________________
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(e) ___________________________________________________________
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(f) ___________________________________________________________
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(g) ___________________________________________________________
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