Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Clauses with superlatives

471h

Both finite and non-finite clauses may follow superlatives. The non-finite clauses

have a similar function to relative clauses (

Û

317j

):

That’s one of 

the best films 

I’ve ever seen

.

She’s 

the youngest swimmer 

to qualify for the Olympics

.

They were 

the fittest team 

finishing the course

.

Double the + comparative 

471i

Two comparative clauses preceded by the more (or the less, or a combination of

both) are used to say that one situation, event or action results from another. The

entities compared are normally fronted:

The more I swim, the more energetic I feel.

The less I work, the less I feel like working.

The more I read it, the less impressed I am.

The same structure can be used to coordinate noun phrases. The entities

compared are normally fronted:

The less effort they put in, the more money they earned. It was very unfair, really.

Similar structures are used involving the + comparative adjective/adverb. Again,

the entities compared are fronted:

The sooner we finish, the earlier we can go home.

The more important she became, the less we saw each other.

Û

473b Predicative complement in Word order and focus on subject-verb

inversion after expressions of comparison in fronted complements

776 | Comparison

Cambridge Grammar of English

---

Word order and focus 

Introduction

472

Fronting

473

Direct objects 473a

Predicative complements 473b

Adjuncts 473c

Verbs 473d

Headers and tails

474

Structural options

475

Indirect object versus prepositional complement 475a

Active versus passive voice 475b

Cleft sentences (It was David who called.) 475c

Wh

-cleft sentences (What we need is a hammer.) 475d

The thing

, one thing, something 475e

Anticipatory it 475f

Existential there 475g

Raising (It was hard to understand.) 475h

Pseudo-intransitive constructions (Fish cooks quickly.) 475i

Nominalisation and adjectivalisation 475j

---

778 | 

Word order and focus