How to Show Compare Relationships in your Essay

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In this lesson, you'll learn how to show compare relationships in your essay.
Being able to compare ideas or things is an essential skill for both IELTS writing tasks. There are a couple of ways you can do this:

Using the words compare, comparable, and comparison and phrases such as compared to, compared with, in comparison to, or in comparison with
Using comparatives.
Using as adjective/adverb/quantity expression as structure

Lesson Introduction

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Partie 1

In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how to show comparison relationships in your essay.

Being able to compare ideas or things is an essential skill for the TOEFL writing section. There are several ways to show comparisons in English:

Using the words “compare,” “comparable,” and “comparison”, or phrases such as “compared to,” “compared with,” “in comparison to,” or “in comparison with.”
Using comparative forms (for example: bigger, more expensive, better).
Using the “as + adjective/adverb/quantity expression + as” structure (for example: as tall as, as carefully as, as many as).

Let’s start with the verb “compare” and the noun “comparison.”

When we want to examine two things side by side to find similarities and differences, we use the pattern:

compare A with B

Here are some example sentences:

It would be interesting to compare Tokyo with Rome.
Please compare your answers with the teacher’s.
People often compare rural life with city life.
Tom compared a picture taken of Mary three years ago with one taken recently.

We can also express the same idea using the noun comparison. Here’s how we can rephrase the examples:

It would be interesting to make a comparison between Tokyo and Rome.
Please make a comparison between your answers and the teacher’s.
People like to make a comparison between rural life and city life.
Tom made a comparison between a picture of Mary from three years ago and one taken recently.

So, the two structures mean the same thing:

C compares A with/to B = C makes a comparison between A and B.

Now let’s look at another pattern: “compare A to B.”

The pattern compare A to B means “A is like B” or “A is similar to B.” We often use it to make an analogy between two things. In this case, the preposition “to” is required.

Here are some examples:

He compared life to a journey. (He is saying life is like a journey.)
She is such a great singer that people have compared her to Whitney Houston. (Her singing is similar to Whitney Houston’s.)
We can compare the risk of smoking to that of inhaling exhaust fumes from cars.

These sentences can also be written in the passive voice:

Life can be compared to a journey.
Her singing can be compared to Whitney Houston’s.
The risk of smoking can be compared to that of inhaling car exhaust fumes.

When “A is compared to B” means “A is similar to B,” we can use the phrase is comparable to to express the same idea:

Her singing is comparable to Whitney Houston’s.
The risk of smoking is comparable to that of inhaling car exhaust fumes.

Now let’s see how the verb “compare” can be used as an intransitive verb.

When “compare” is used as an intransitive verb, it can take one of these two patterns:

A compares with B
A compares to B

Both patterns mean that A is on the same level as B — in other words, A is equally good, bad, or similar in some way.

For example:

Her singing compares to Whitney Houston’s. (Her singing is just as good as Whitney Houston’s.)

In American English, “A compares to B” is more common. In British English, “A compares with B” is preferred, although both are correct.

Her singing compares with Whitney Houston’s → preferred in British English
Her singing compares to Whitney Houston’s → more common in American English

When used in a negative sense, it means something is not as good as something else:

He says skiing is fun, but it doesn’t compare to snowboarding. (= Snowboarding is better.)
Spraining an ankle hurts, but it doesn’t compare to breaking a leg. (= Breaking a leg is worse.)

Finally, let’s look at the prepositional phrases “compared to/with” and “in comparison to/with.”

We use compared to/with and in comparison to/with when we want to highlight differences or similarities between two things. You can think of them as meaning “measured against” or “in relation to.”

For example:

Compared to/with astronomy, cosmology is a young science.
In comparison to/with astronomy, cosmology is a young science.

From these examples, we understand that cosmology is newer than astronomy.

Although these phrases can be used interchangeably, “compared to” and “in comparison to” are more common in everyday English.

In comparison to the languages spoken worldwide, Mandarin is spoken by the most people.
Compared to today’s internet speeds, dial-up connections were extremely slow.
Europe is made up of many separate countries, so compared to the USA or Japan, it is much more diverse.

Continue to next part:

Partie 2

We can use comparatives to show a comparison relationship.

Another powerful way to compare ideas is to use comparatives. Below are the most common comparative patterns and how to use them correctly.

Common sentence frames with comparatives:

A + be/verb + comparative adjective + than + B (+ be/verb often omitted)
A + verb + comparative adverb + than + B (+ do/does/verb often omitted)
A + verb + more/less + noun + than + B (+ do/does often omitted)
It/Subject + verb + comparative + now/ today + than + time period + ago

Let’s walk through each pattern with clear examples.

Four core comparative patterns (with examples)

Pattern 1: A + be/verb + comparative adjective + than + B

Developing countries are more reliant on alternative energy than developed countries (are).
I am more interested in music than (I am in) sports.
Picasso’s art is better than Van Gogh’s (art).
The contribution of the electric light to human welfare is greater than that of any other invention (is).
Solar energy is cheaper than many other sources of energy.

Pattern 2: A + verb + comparative adverb + than + B

I study harder than John (does).
This algorithm processes data faster than the old one.

Pattern 3: A + verb + more/less + noun + than + B

Western countries consume more oil than the Middle East (does).
East Asia produces more notebook computers than any other region (does).
Solar power accounts for less total energy than gas or coal (does).

Pattern 4: It/Subject + verb + comparative + now/today + than + time period + ago

Big cars that use a lot of petrol are less popular now than they were twenty years ago.
It is easier to travel internationally now than it was thirty years ago.

We can add degree modifiers (quantifiers) to show big or small differences.

Degree modifiers make the size of the difference clear (big vs. small).

The contribution of the electric light is far/much/considerably greater than that of any other invention.
His salary as an online tutor is slightly/marginally/a bit higher than that of a classroom teacher.
Western countries consume about twice as much oil as the Middle East.
Solar power accounts for far less total energy than gas or coal.
It is much easier to travel now than it was thirty years ago.

Common degree modifiers for comparatives:

Big difference	Small difference
far / much / a lot / way considerably / significantly / substantially by + number/amount (e.g., by 20%, by two points) twice/three times as … as	slightly / a little / a bit marginally just / only a little

Note: Avoid using quantity determiners like any, several, plenty of as degree modifiers for comparatives. Use the items listed above instead.

We use “as + adjective/adverb/quantity expression + as” to show equality.

Use as + adjective/adverb/quantity expression + as when two things are equal in some way. Use not as/so … as to show that A is less than B.

A + be + as + adjective + as + B
A + verb + as + adverb + as + B
A + verb + as + much/many + noun + as + B
A + be/verb + as + time/amount + as + B

Correct transformations (keeping logic the same):

Original (comparative): The contribution of the electric light is greater than that of any other invention.
Equivalent (as…as form): No other invention is as great as the contribution of the electric light.

Original: I studied harder than he did.
Equivalent: He did not study as hard as I did.

Original: Western countries consume twice as much oil as the Middle East.
Equivalent: The Middle East consumes half as much oil as Western countries.

Original: It is easier to travel now than thirty years ago.
Equivalent: Thirty years ago, travel was not as easy as it is now.

Extra examples with nouns and quantities:

This laptop has as much memory as that one.
Our team completed as many tasks as theirs.
She runs as fast as her brother.

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