alexis twitter comparative blah

gistfile1.txt

Comparatives and equatives let you delete the verb, as well as leave it behind, in the secondary clause:

  1. John can [jump] as high as Susan can [----] far
  2. John can [jump] as high as Susan can [jump] far
  3. John can [jump] higher than Susan can [----] far
  4. John can [jump] higher than Susan can [jump] far

But "is Adj" and "is NP" don't, unless it's different:

  5.  John is as [tall] as Susan is [----]
  6. *John is as [tall] as Susan is [tall]
  7.  John is as [tall] as Susan is [short]
  8.  John is [tall]er than Susan is [----]
  9. *John is [tall]er than Susan is [tall]
 10.  John is [tall]er than Susan is [short]

There are also constructions like "the same as X" or "the same N as X". The latter is at least parallel to as-as equatives:

 11. John gave me as many cookies as I had asked for
 12. John gave me the same number of cookies as I had asked for