The ESL HELP! Desk

Today's Grammar HELP! Handbook lesson continues our chapter, "Sentence Structure".  It is primarily for beginners and lower-intermediate learners of English. This is not an audio lesson.

Before you begin the activities BELOW, you may want to study the podcast and initial grammar lesson, He's Always Talking about Grammar , also in our Library.

The More... The Less...

 

We can also use sentence structure to help us efficiently express proportions and comparisons.

When we are expressing a proportion between the circumstances expressed in entire sentences, we use the adverbs (more, less) as desired.

When we are expressing proportions between noncount nouns, we use the adjectives more or less.

When we are expressing proportions between count nouns, we use the adjectives more or fewer.

Problem:  As I read more, it takes less time for me to read.

Solution:  The more I read, the less time it takes me to read.  Now I can read more in the same amount of time.

Syntax Study:  The more I read, the less time* it takes me to read.
                                       subject, verb                                      subject, verb

** noncount noun

Problem:  The more I read English books, the less I make mistakes.

Solution:  The more English books I read, the fewer mistakes I make. 

Syntax Study:  The more English books I read, the fewer mistakes* I make.
                                        object, subject, verb                                   object, subject, verb

* count noun

Now You Do It!

 

Create some proportional sentences of your own.

#1  The more ____________________, the more ____________________.

#2  The less ____________________, the less ____________________.

#3   The more ____________________, the less ____________________.

#4   The less ____________________, the more____________________.
 

Proportional sentences are popular in literature and poetry. Here is one written by King Solomon, in Kohelet (called "Ecclesiastes" in English):

The more words a man speaks, the more useless, and what value is that to man?
[ Eccl. 6 v 11]

Search the internet and find some famous ones. Write us to tell us what you've found.