GRAMMAR

▶ 比較

A 比較級の特別な用法

❶ Your English ability is superior to mine.

❷ His second novel is less interesting than the first one.
(= His second novel isn’t as interesting as the first one.)

❸ I think Jane is the more attractive actress of the two.

❹ Tokyo Sky Tree is thirty-four meters taller than the Canton Tower.

B 最上級の特別な用法

❺ This is the least interesting novel I’ve ever read.

❻ The influence of Christianity was strongest during the Middle Ages.

C 原級を用いたさまざまな表現

❼ Leslie is not so much an artist as a scholar.
(≒ Leslie is a scholar rather than an artist. / Leslie is more a scholar than an artist.)

❽ Jack has as many as five thousand music CDs.

❾ Mary paid as much as five thousand dollars for the painting.

D 比較級を用いたさまざまな表現

❿ Cherry blossoms are all the more beautiful for lasting only a short time.

⓫ I don’t have enough money to buy a new TV, much less a new car.

⓬ Any politician should know better than to use such rude words during a ceremony.

⓭ Significant improvements in measuring instruments have helped to make maps more or less perfect.

⓮ The song is more sad than beautiful.

E 〈否定+比較級〉の構文

⓯ Theory without proof is no more useful in study than a wild guess (is).

⓰ She is no less gentle with children than her sister (is).

⓱ Robert took no more than a week to finish painting the picture.

⓲ The research on the environment of the city took no less than ten years.

⓳ It’s not more than two kilometers to the village.

⓴ It will cost not less than 300,000 yen to repair the car.

F 最上級を用いたさまざまな表現

I can lend you only 200 dollars at (the) most.

It takes at least two hours to get there from here.

We should make the best of this opportunity.