ESL Blogs

Today I will tell you about illogical comparisons and how to avoid this mistake.

An illogical comparison is one in which unlike entities have been compared.

Here are the examples of the illogical comparisons, they all are incorrect:

His drawings are as perfect as his instructor.

(This sentence compares drawings with instructor).

The duties of a policeman are more dangerous than a teacher.

(This sentence compares the duties with a teacher).

So, when you use a comparison, be sure that you compare the same items. It is quite easy to avoid this mistake saying all the words in the second part of the comparison:

I will show you what I mean:

His drawings are as perfect as the drawings of his instructor.

The duties of a policeman are more dangerous than the duties of a teacher.

Now, you can see, that the subjects are repeated in both parts of the comparisons. Sure, tautology never makes any sentence better. So, to avoid tautology, we replace the second subject by THAT/THOSE or by a possessive form of a noun if there is a possessive in the main clause:

His drawings are as perfect as his instructor’s.

(instructor's = instructor’s drawings)

The duties of a policeman are more dangerous than those of a teacher.

(those of = the duties of)

Here are some examples of logical comparisons:

John’s car runs better than Mary’s.

(Mary’s = Mary’s car)

The climate of Florida is as mild as that of California.

(that of = the climate of)

Classes in the university are more difficult than those in the college.

(those in = the classes in)

The basketball games at the university are better than those at the high school.

(those at = the games at)

Your accent is not as strong as my mother’s.

(my mother’s = my mother’s accent)

Here is one more detail. Sometimes, we can see that we repeat both a subject and a verb if we say the full comparison.

Incorrect: I feel better today than yesterday.

(This sentence compares feeling with the day)

Full: I feel better today than I felt yesterday.

In this case, we replace the second verb by the appropriate auxiliary.

Correct: I feel better today than I did yesterday.

And now, I will be happy to answer your questions and to see your examples. Go ahead, my friends!