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goophy
Joined: 13 Apr 2012
Posts: 9
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 Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 4:45 pm Post subject: no more...than vs. not more...than? |
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Hello there,
Could anyone help explicate the following sentences as plain as possile? Are they interchangeable? Thanks in advance!
A. John is no more intelligent than Sam.
B. John is not more intelligent than Sam.
Does Sentence A mean both John and Sam are not smart?
Does sentence B mean John is less intelligent than Sam? Or, John is as intelligent as Sam at best?
I just checked Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/more_1, there's a sentence that seems to show no more adj than pattern are interchangeable? Here's the quote:
| Quote: |
| Selling goods abroad is no more difficult (=not more difficult) than selling to the home market. |
Goophy |
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askeladd
Joined: 05 Jan 2010
Posts: 89
Location: Chicago area, USA
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| Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:00 am Post subject: Re: no more...than vs. not more...than? |
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| goophy wrote: |
Hello there,
Could anyone help explicate the following sentences as plain as possile? Are they interchangeable? Thanks in advance!
A. John is no more intelligent than Sam.
B. John is not more intelligent than Sam.
Does Sentence A mean both John and Sam are not smart?
Does sentence B mean John is less intelligent than Sam? Or, John is as intelligent as Sam at best? |
Sentence A is not saying that neither John nor Sam is smart.
Sentences A and B are more or less saying the same thing: At best, John and Sam have comparable intelligences, with the possibility that Sam might be the smarter of the two.
| Quote: |
I just checked Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/more_1, there's a sentence that seems to show no more adj than pattern are interchangeable? Here's the quote:
| Quote: |
| Selling goods abroad is no more difficult (=not more difficult) than selling to the home market. |
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Yes, the two phrases are fairly interchangeable.
Hope this helps 
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Helping ESL students since 2001!
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