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Dan
Hi guys! Dan here for BBC Learning English
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with this week's Learner Question. Find out
what it is after this.
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OK! So, this week's learner question comes
from Mohammad Tariq from Afghanistan, and
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he writes: Hello! I hope you are in the best
of health. Would you kindly tell me what parts
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of speech 'as... as' are. I know that we use
adjectives or adverbs between them, but I
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do not know what they are themselves. Kind
regards.
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OK Mohammed Tariq, I found an answer as
quickly as I could. Now, this structure is
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used to measure and compare things that are
similar in proportion, and you're right about
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the adjectives and adverbs going between the 'as...as'.
The first as functions as an adverb and modifies
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the following adverb or adjective. The second
functions as a preposition when connected
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to a noun or a pronoun, or as a conjunction
when it relates to a following clause, such
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as in the sentence: I found an answer as
quickly as it was possible to do.
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I like to think I'm as good a dancer
as Michael Jackson. OK,OK, maybe not as good
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a dancer, but did you notice the use of the
adjective and the noun? 'as good a dancer
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as Michael Jackson'. When we use an adjective
and a noun in between an 'as...as' expression,
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we must remember the article. 'as good a
dancer'. And this is also true for 'an' 'as
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delicious an orange as'
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To make these expressions negative we put 'not' before
the 'as...as'. For example: 'he was not as
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smart as his sister'. And in negative expressions
we can replace the first 'as' with 'so'. For
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example: 'he was not so smart as his sister.'
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These expressions are idiomatic and they're
very, very common in English. We have a few
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set ones which people tend to repeat over
and over again. For example: 'When I saw
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the ghost, I went as white as a sheet.' Or: 'In
the library be as quiet as a mouse.' Or: 'I
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was late for work. I ran as fast as
lightning.'
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I hope that answers your question Mohammed
Tariq. If anybody else out there has a question,
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please email it to us at [email protected].
And for more information go to bbclearningenglish.com.
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Thank you very much! See you next time on
Learners' Questions.
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