This a continuation lesson of comparatives. Listen to a dialogue between me and my friend. Hey, your new apartment is nice. It's definitely nicer than your last place. >> Thanks, I'm glad I found this place too. >> Is this your family? >> Yeah! We took this last year at our family reunion. This is my mom, and my dad, my grandma, my older brother, and my younger brother. >> Your younger brother is almost as tall as your older brother! >> Yeah, sometimes people can't tell who is older and who is younger. And you, you're as tall as your dad. >> Well, no, this picture doesn't show it but I'm not as tall as my dad. He's still taller than me. I'm wearing high-heel shoes >> Aw, your grandma and your mom look very similar. >> Yeah, everyone says the same thing. I think it's the face shape. My mom's face is just as round as my grandma's. >> [LAUGH] Yeah, it seems like it. So who is the most talkative? >> Hm, I think my older brother. My grandma thinks he is one of the most talkative guys in the entire family. I think he just enjoys talking to people. Everyone thinks he's very friendly. >> So, your younger brother is not nearly as talkative as your older brother? >> No, no, my younger brother is pretty quiet. >> Well, does your older brother have a girlfriend? Personally I've never seen a more handsome guy. [LAUGH] >> I'm not sure about that. >> I just had a conversation about my family with my friend. You probably noticed that I used, as, a lot. Let's take a look at the sentences using as. As phrases are used for comparing two things. My friend said, you are as tall as your dad. This is the same as saying that, my dad and I are the same height. When you want to say that two things are the same, you can use the sentence pattern, subj1 (be verb) as (adjective) as subj2. Let's take a look at another sentence. My mom's face is just as round as my grandma's. This is the same as saying that both their faces are the same roundness. You noticed that I used, just. Just is common in conversation. It emphasizes that the two things are exactly the same. Next, my friend said, your younger brother is almost as tall as your older brother. Now this sentence is a little different compared to the previous sentences because it has the word almost. Almost means that they are close, but not the same. The sentence basically means that my older brother is taller than my younger brother, but they are close in height. Another word that means almost is nearly. That means that we can also say your brother is nearly as tall as your older brother. You can also use the negative, not, with, as, not as. Look at this sample sentence. I am not as tall as my dad. In this sentence I am basically saying that my dad and I are not the same height. My dad is taller than me. When you say, subject1 (be verb) not as (adjective) as subject2, you are saying that subject2 is still more than subject1. Here is another sentence from the conversation. My younger brother is not nearly as talkative as my older brother. In this sentence, because it is negative, we already know that my older brother is more talkative than my younger brother. When we add the word nearly, it doesn't change the meaning. It's just emphasizing the negative in conversation. Maybe you are wondering, can we use almost in negative sentences? The answer is, no. You cannot say, my younger brother is not almost as talkative as my older brother. It doesn't work. Instead, you can also use quite. It has the same meaning as nearly in this case. My younger brother is not quite as talkative as my older brother. For these as sentences, they show comparison. But the way that you make a sentence is different from using the e-r comparative adjective.
