REPEATED COMPARATIVES AND DOUBLE COMPARATIVES

WHAT ARE REPEATED COMPARATIVES?

Repeated comparatives 

All of them are used to describe actions and things that are increasing or decreasing. 

1.1 INCREASING

To indicate that something is increasing we can apply two structures: er and er / more and more.

a) …….er and …….er

To form this structure we have to add “er” to the adjective to form a comparative adjective. It is used with adjectives and short adverbs; such as, closer and closer, longer and longer.

Examples:

She is getting closer and closer of her mother.

By the end of the twentieth century, couples were waiting longer and longer to marry.

b) more and more

We can use this structure with long adjectives or adverbs ; for example, more and more difficult, more and more slowly.

Examples:

It’s becoming more and more difficult.

He is going more and more slowly.

1.2 DECREASING

In order to indicate that something is decreasing we can use the following structures: fewer and fewer, less and less.

a) Fewer and fewer

It is used with countable nouns.

Example:

Fewer and fewer children are leaving school.

b) Less and less

It is used with uncountable nouns and adjectives.

Example:

He needs less and less money everyday.

Let’s take a look at the way English repeats comparative adjectives to describe a continuous change.

Change can happen to different degrees:

• just once, moderately – The temperature fell yesterday.
• dramatically – Sales of iPhones rocketed last year.
• a lot / a little – My English improved quite a lot during the course.

In the three examples above we have used verbs (fell, rocketed, improved) to show the change. However, when we want to express continuous (and often big) change, we can use two comparatives adjectives separated by and.

Take a look at these examples:

• My uncle grew fatter and fatter over the years.
• As Microsoft grew, Bill Gates got richer and richer.
• The balloon got bigger and bigger and then burst.

In each example above we used a comparative adjective (fatter, richer, bigger), followed by and, and then repeated the comparative.

‘More and more’ for longer comparatives

We don’t repeat comparative adjectives that are used with more; we simple say more and more:

• Things are getting more and more expensive.
• This books gets more and more interesting with every chapter.
• He spoke for over an hour and his explanation got more and more complicated.

                WHAT ARE DOUBLE COMPARATIVES?

                             

2. Double comparatives

Double comparatives describe a cause and effect process. Also, they are written as a sentence with a comma separating the cause and the effect. The structure to use them is the following:

     [the + comparative form] + (subject) + (verb), [the + comparative form] + (subject) + (verb)] 

Examples:

The more education women get, the later they marry.

The less children studied, the more slowly they learned.

FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH THE CORRECT FORM OF THE WORDS BELOW:

better loud hot probable small better more rich big

less happy merry late safe fast cheap more hard

1)      The  you study for these exams, the  you will do.

2)      She doesn't really like vodka, so the  a bottle you find, the  it will be for us.

3)      My neighbour is driving me mad! It seems that the  it is at night, the  he plays his music!

4)      He spent a year in India and loves spicy food. The  the food is, the  he likes it.

5)      Of course you can come to the party. The  the  .

6)      She will be really angry about that vase being broken! The  she knows about it, the  .

7)      He has 6 large dogs to protect his house. The  the dog, the  he feels.

8)      Earning money has always been the thing that pleases him most. The  he becomes, the  he is.

9)      You must drive slower in built up areas. The  you drive in the city, the  it is that you will have an accident.

VERBS WITH STATIVE AND DYNAMIC USES

VERBS WITH STATIVE AND DYNAMIC USES

Verbs in English can be classified into two categories: stative verbs and dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as "action verbs") usually describe actions we can take, or things that happen; stative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is not changing or likely to change. The difference is important, because stative verbs cannot normally be used in the continuous (BE + ING) forms. This will explain the differences between the two types of verb, and give lots of examples of each kind.

Dynamic verbs

There are many types of dynamic verbs, but most of them describe activities or events which can begin and finish. Here are some examples:

Dynamic Verb	Type	Examples
play	activity	She plays tennis every Friday. She's playing tennis right now.
melt	process	The snow melts every spring. The snow is melting right now
hit	momentary action	When one boxer hits another, brain damage can result. (This suggests only ONE punch.) When one boxer is hitting another, brain damage can result. (This suggests MANY repeated punches.)

Dynamic verbs, as you can see from the table above, can be used in the simple and perfect forms (plays, played, has played, had played) as well as the continuous or progressive forms (is playing, was playing, has been playing, had been playing).

"Dynamic" is an adjective which means something is moving or changing. 

In English grammar a "dynamic verb" means that the verb describes an action rather than a state. Dynamic verbs are sometimes known as "action verbs."

"Joe is chasing the bus."

Stative verbs

Stative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is quite static or unchanging. They can be divided into verbs of perception or cognition (which refer to things in the mind), or verbs of relation (which describe the relationships between things). Here are some examples:

Stative Verb	Type	Examples
hate	perception	I hate chocolate.
believe	perception	She believes in UFOs.
contain	relation	The box contains 24 cans of soda.
own	relation	Yong owns three motorbikes.

Note that we CANNOT use these verbs in the continuous (progressive) forms; you CAN'T say "*Yong is owning three cars." Owning is a state, not an action, so it is always in the simple form.

"Stative" is an adjective which describes something as having a state, or existing (this is a very uncommon adjective). 

In English grammar a "stative verb" means that the verb describes a staterather than an action.

Stative verbs are sometimes known as "state verbs." 

"Kevin wants some ice-cream."

Example verbs

Here some common stative and dynamic verbs. The lists may help you to understand what types of verbs are likely to be stative and what types are commonly dynamic.

Stative Verbs	love; hate; like; see; hear; sound; think (meaning "have an opinion"); mind (meaning "care about"); recognize; seem; have (meaning "own"); prefer; doubt; consist of; mean
Dynamic Verbs	eat; drink; go; type; read; write; listen; speak; watch; say; grow; work; sleep; cook; talk

Dynamic verbs, as you can see from the table above, can be used in the simple and perfect forms (plays, played, has played, had played) as well as the continuous or progressive forms (is playing, was playing, has been playing, had been playing).

Exercices

1. change
   1.   stative
   2.   dynamic
2. read
   1.   stative
   2.   dynamic
3. remember
   1.   stative
   2.   dynamic
4. seem
   1.   stative
   2.   dynamic
5. want
1.   stative
2.   dynamic

WOULD, USED TO, BE + ALWAYS+ -ING

Would

El auxiliar would, usado como condicional, expresa una idea de voluntad, de aceptación, de preferencia.

I would buy a car if I could. Yo compraría un coche si pudiera.

I would make an omelette if I had some eggs. Haría una tortilla si tuviera huevos.

(had forma el pretérito imperfecto del subjuntivo)

What would you do in my position? ¿Qué harías tú en mi lugar?

I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we started dinner without them. Estoy seguro de que no les molestará si empezamos a comer sin ellos.

(started forma el pretérito imperfecto del subjuntivo)

Would es usado en las formas de cortesía:

I would like some change please. ¿Me podría dar cambio por favor?.

Would you like something to drink? ¿Le gustaría tomar algo?

También permite expresar el futuro dentro de una oración en pasado (would es el preterito de will):

Bruno says he will come to the meeting. Bruno dice que vendrá a la reunión.

Bruno said he would come to the meeting. Bruno dijo que vendría a la reunión.

be always +ing

Sentence A – using "always" with the present progressive to describe an habitual action – is an alternate way of saying sentence B.

Sometimes it's possible, and very expressive, to structure a sentence in the way that sentence A is structured to describe a recurring action of somebody. Often the speaker is complaining about the person s/he is describing.

Other examples like this:

"¢ I can't stand my roommate! He's always leaving dirty dishes in the sink.

"¢ Will you please let me finish my sentences? You're always interrupting me!

"¢ What? You forgot your keys again? You're always forgetting your keys! You should tie them around your neck with a string!

In each of the sentences above, you can, of course, also use the simple present tense, which would a statement of fact, not necessarily showing your attitude. In the sentences above, however, you are showing annoyance.

It's also possible to show extreme approval with this construction, although it is less frequently used in this way::

"¢ Oh, Mary is so generous! She's always giving money and her time to charity organizations.

"¢ Bob is a born handyman. He's always looking for something to fix in his house.

USED TO

Existe una pequeña confusión sobre cómo usar las palabras " use to" y " used to" . Una razón de la confusión es que a veces se usa como un verbo, y a veces se usa como un adjetivo. La otra razón es porque parece que el tiempo cambia. Es realmente bastante simple cuando lo miras.

Usado como un adjetivo . Use para ser + usado para . Esto significa estar acostumbrado. Por ejemplo , puedo estudiar con la TV encendida. Yo estoy acostumbrado a ello. Significa que estoy acostumbrado, ajustado, o no me importa tener el televisor mientras estoy estudiando.

Otro ejemplo: a Tim le costó mucho vivir en Tokio. Él no estaba acostumbrado a tanta gente. Tim no tenía experiencia con grandes multitudes de personas antes.
Usado como un verbo. Usar to + verb es un verbo regular y significa algo que sucedió pero que ya no ocurre. Utiliza -ed para mostrar el tiempo pasado. Pero como siempre significa algo que sucedió en el pasado, siempre debe usar el tiempo pasado.

Por ejemplo , 

• solía ir a la escuela en París. (Fui a la escuela allí antes, pero ahora no.) 
• cuando Joshua era un niño, solía trepar a los árboles.(Ahora él no trepa a los árboles)

Recuerde, siempre usamos esta palabra cuando hablamos del pasado. Entonces, ¿cuándo utilizas usar sin la d al final? Cuando se usa la forma base del verbo.
 Mire estos ejemplos. 
Ella no solía nadar antes del mediodía. (Ahora ella nada antes del mediodía.) 
¿ O tu padre solía montar a caballo? En estos casos, el tiempo pasado se muestra con did y did not .

EJERCICIOS

• We ____ breakfast in the same café every morning.


 would had  use to have  used to have  would to have



• I ____ the bus to school.


 would always take  used always take  always would take  used always to take



• They ____ on time.


 wouldn't finish always  wouldn't always finish  always wouldn't finish  always wouldn't to finish



• He ____ Mexican food but he loves it now.


 didn't used to like  wouldn't to like  wouldn't liked  didn't use to like



• ____ work in a bank.


 He would to  Did he used to  Did he use to  Would he to 



• When they were children, ____ the dinner?


 would ever they cook  would they ever cook  would they cook ever  they would ever cook