As…as…
If two things are equal in some way, we can use a comparison withas…as…. The comparisons may involve adjectives (adj) or adverbs (adv) after the firstas, and noun phrases (np) or clauses after the secondas:
He’s grown so much. He’sastallashis fathernow.(adj + noun phrase)
The team is stillasgoodasit was five years ago.(adj + clause)
The second game didn’t goaswellasthe first one.(adv + noun phrase)
The company is not performingassuccessfullyasit did when Arthur Carling was the President.(adv + clause)
When the second part of the comparison is a clause, the clause is often a reduced clause (a clause with ellipsis) or one with a substitute verbdoor a modal verb:
If the sales figures areas bad as predicted, the company will probably go bankrupt.(…as bad as economists have predicted…)
I worked as hardas I had ever done in my lifefor my final exam.(…as hard as I had ever worked in my life …)
We tried as hardas we could.
See also:
Ellipsis
Substitution
Noun phrases
If we useas … as… with a noun phrase, we must usemuchorlittle+ uncountable nounormanyorfew+ plural noun:
She hadas much workas she needed and did not want to take on any more.
There areas many studentsin Class 2A as there are in 2B.
He spentas little moneyas he could.
Negative forms
We can form the negative ofas … as… withnot as … as…, or withnot so … as… The formnot as … as… is more common:
He didn’trunas fast ashe did in the European Championship.
He didn’tpayas much taxthis yearaslast year because he earned less.
She’snotso shy asshe used to be.(less common)
I don’treadso many novelsnowasI used to.(less common)