How to Show Compare 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:

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

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

Here are some example sentences:

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

So, the two structures mean the same thing:

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:

These sentences can also be written in the passive voice:

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:

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

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:

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

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

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:

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.

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:

Let’s walk through each pattern with clear examples.

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

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

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

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

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

Common degree modifiers for comparatives:

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

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.

Correct transformations (keeping logic the same):

Extra examples with nouns and quantities: