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Double comparatives are phrases commonly used in English to express
proportionate increase or decrease, to say that when something increases or
decreases, it causes something else to change.

THE MORE .... THE MORE

• The more you study, the more you learn.

• The more I see her, the more I like her.
• The more help we give them, the more they request.
• The more I watch my diet, the more weight I put on.
• The more money he makes, the more expensive things he buys.
• The more we work, the more we earn.

THE MORE ... THE LESS

• The more I read, the less I remember.

• The more the sales assistant explains, the less I understand.
• The more food I see, the less appetite I have.
• The more we spend, the less we save.
• The more I worry, the less I sleep.
• The more she flatters me, the less I tend to believe her.

THE LESS ... THE MORE

• The less we spend, the more we save.

• The less people listen, the more impatient they become.
• The less I concentrate, the more I forget.
• The less we worry, the more relaxed we become.
• The less he sees people, the more isolated he becomes.
• The less you exercise, the more weight you put on.

We can make comparisons using adjectives, adverbs and nouns.

ADJECTIVES:

• The older we grow, the wiser we become.

• The higher you climb, the colder it gets.
• The younger you begin to learn a language, the easier it is.
• The angrier the teacher is, the worse I feel.
• The darker the berry, the juicier it is.
• The brighter the sun, the happier people feel.
• The colder the weather is, the hungrier I am.
• The more educated women are, the later they marry.
• The earlier you leave, the better it is.
• The stronger the wind blows, the colder we feel.
• The heavier it rains, the darker the sky is.
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• The older he gets, the kinder he becomes.

ADVERBS:

• The more carefully you plan, the better the result will be.
• The more quickly a car is driven, the more likely it is to cause an accident.
• The harder you work, the more rapidly you will obtain results.
• The more hurriedly something is done, the more easily mistakes are made.
• The faster you walk, the more quickly you will arrive.

NOUNS:

• The more money a person has, the more privilege they enjoy.
• The more ideas you have, the more projects you will develop.
• The more orders we receive, the more goods we manufacture.
• The more sales he makes, the more commission he earns.
• The more furniture I buy, the more space I need.

1: When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of the

sentence.

Usually, we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence to emphasise what
we're saying. It makes our sentence sound surprising or striking or unusual. It also
sounds quite formal. If you don't want to give this impression, you can put the negative
expression later in the sentence in the normal way:

• Seldom have I seen such beautiful work.

('Seldom' is at the beginning, so we use inversion. This sentence emphasizes what
beautiful work it is.)
• I have seldom seen such beautiful work.
('Seldom' is in the normal place, so we don't use inversion. This is a normal sentence
with no special emphasis.)

Here are some negative adverbs and adverb phrases that we often use with inversion:

Hardly Hardly had I got into bed when the telephone rang.

Never Never had she seen such a beautiful sight before.

Seldom Seldom do we see such an amazing display of dance.

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Rarely Rarely will you hear such beautiful music.

Only then Only then did I understand why the tragedy had happened.

Not only ... but Not only does he love chocolate and sweets but he also smokes.

No sooner No sooner had we arrived home than the police rang the doorbell.

Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the back of a
Scarcely
car.

Only later Only later did she really think about the situation.

Nowhere Nowhere have I ever had such bad service.

Little Little did he know!

Only in this
Only in this way could John earn enough money to survive.
way

In no way In no way do I agree with what you're saying.

On no account On no account should you do anything without asking me first.

In the following expressions, the inversion comes in the second part of the sentence:

Not until Not until I saw John with my own eyes did I really believe he was safe.

Not since Not since Lucy left college had she had such a wonderful time.

Only after I'd seen her flat did I understand why she wanted to live
Only after
there.

Only
Only when we'd all arrived home did I feel calm.
when

Only by Only by working extremely hard could we afford to eat.

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We only use inversion when the adverb modifies the whole phrase and not when it
modifies the noun: Hardly anyone passed the exam. (No inversion.)

2: We can use inversion instead of 'if' in conditionals with 'had' 'were' and
'should'. This is quite formal:

• Normal conditional: If I had been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.
• Conditional with inversion: Had I been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.

• Normal conditional: If we had arrived sooner, we could have prevented this tragedy!
• Conditional with inversion: Had we arrived sooner, we could have prevented this
tragedy!

3: We can use inversion if we put an adverbial expression of place at the

beginning on the sentence. This is also quite formal or literary:

• On the table was all the money we had lost. (Normal sentence: All the money we had
lost was on the table.)
• Round the corner came the knights. (Normal sentence: The knights came round the
corner.)

4: We can use inversion after 'so + adjective...that':

• So beautiful was the girl that nobody could talk of anything else. (Normal sentence: the
girl was so beautiful that nobody could talk of anything else.)
• So delicious was the food that we ate every last bite. (Normal sentence: the food was so
delicious that we ate every last bite.)

…………………………………..

An inverted sentence switches the placement of the verb before the subject of a
sentence as if in a question. Here are some examples of inverted sentences:

• Not only is he difficult to understand, but he is also funny.

• Never have I understood less about women.
• Scarcely have they been on time.

Inverted sentences are required with certain grammar structures, or used as a

means of sentences stress or emphasis. Follow the instructions below to learn
how and when inverted sentences are used in English.
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Inverted Sentence = Question Form
The question form (auxiliary + subject + main verb) takes the place of the
standard positive sentence structure (i.e. He goes to work every day) in inverted
sentences.

• Not only do I enjoy classical music, but I also have a season ticket to the
symphony.
• Seldom has the boss been so upset!
• So difficult has science became that only specialists can fathom its
complexities.

In this case, the question form is substituted for standard sentence structure in a
statement. Generally, an inversion is used to stress the uniqueness of an event
and begins with a negative.

Using Never, Rarely, Seldom in Inverted Sentences

Never, rarely, and seldom are used in inverted sentences to express how unique a
given situation is. These time expressions are often used with a perfect form and
often include comparatives:

• Never have I been more insulted!

• Seldom has he seen anything stranger.
• Rarely has someone been so wrong as you.

Hardly, barely, no sooner, or scarcely. These time expressions are used when
there is a succession of events in the past. The use of this form of inversion
focuses on how quickly something happened after something else had been
completed.

• Scarcely had I got out of bed when the doorbell rang.

• No sooner had he finished dinner, when she walked in the door.
• Barely had I walked in the door when my dog came rushing to greet me.

Using After "Only" Expressions, Such as "Only After" and "Only

Then"
"Only" is used with a variety of time expressions such as "only when," "only as
soon as," etc. This form of inversion focuses on how important something in
understanding a situation clearly.
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• Only then did I understand the problem.
• Only after understanding the situation does the teacher make a comment.
• Only when all the stars have gone out will I grasp the complexity of the
universe.

Using After "Little"

"Little" is used in a negative sense in inversions to stress that something has not
been understood completely.

• Little did he understand the situation.

• Little have I read concerning nanotechnology.
• Little was I aware that she was in town.

Inversion After "So" and "Such"

The modifiers so and such are related and are also used in version. Remember
that so is used with adjectives and such with nouns.

So

"So + adjective ... that" combines with the verb "to be."

• So strange was the situation that I couldn't sleep.

• So difficult is the test that students need three months to prepare.
• So expensive was the ticket that we couldn't attend the show.

Such

"So + to be + noun ... (that):"

• Such is the moment that all greats traverse.

• Such is the stuff of dreams.
• Such are the days of our lives.

Conditional Forms
Sometimes conditional forms are inverted as a means of sounding more formal.
In this case, the conditional if is dropped and the inverted forms take the place of
the if clause.
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• Had he understood the problem, he wouldn't have committed those
mistakes.
• Should he decide to come, please telephone.
• Had I known, I would have helped him.