If the whole comparison is placed first in the sentence, the principal proposition is introduced by so followed by the word denoting the respect in which two ideas are compared; as, “But, as eminently as Homer is plain, so eminently is the Elizabethan literature in general, and Chapman in particular, fanciful.”—Arnold. The words so eminently are not necessary for the complete structure of the sentence, but they add to its clearness.
A statement containing a comparison of equality may be denied by means of the negative adverb not, so that the sentence amounts finally to an assertion of inequality in degree; thus, “He is not by any means so wise as he looks.”
2. A sentence may assert that two attributes are unequal in degree; for example, “The manner of saying things often makes a deeper impression than the thing that is said (makes).”—Brook. Here the impression made by the manner of speaking and the impression made by the thing spoken are compared and said to be unequal in depth. The clause in such a sentence is introduced by the subordinating conjunction than, and is always an adjunct of some word in the comparative degree, or the words else, other, otherwise, or rather, the last being in reality a comparative of the Old English word rathe.
When a statement signifying inequality is denied by some negative word, the sentence amounts to a statement of equality; thus, “It is not more certain that Sarah Gamp liked her beer drawn mild than it is that your Englishman likes his poetry cut short.”—Birrell.
In clauses of both varieties given above there is often an ellipsis, the words omitted being those already expressed in the principal proposition and hence easily supplied. In the sentence, “Mrs. Patten had more respect for her neighbor Mr. Hackit than for most people,” when we analyze the clause we must fill it out so as to make it read, than she had respect for most people.
3. The clause of degree may tell not that things stand to each other in a relation of equality or inequality, but that they vary in the same proportion; thus, “The deeper the snow, the nearer the rabbit is brought to the tops of the tender bushes and shrubs.”—Burroughs. Here the rabbit’s nearness to the tops of the shrubs is said to vary with the depth of the snow.
In sentences of this sort, both principal proposition and subordinate proposition are constructed in the same form, but the principal proposition may always be ascertained by questioning the sentence; for example, does the foregoing sentence assert that the depth of snow varies with the rabbit’s nearness, or that the rabbit’s nearness varies with the depth of snow? Clearly, the latter. Indeed, it will almost invariably be found that in a sentence of this kind, especially if it be addressed to the eye, the second proposition contains the principal thought.
Sentences of this kind are often much abridged; thus, “The more, the merrier,” “The sooner, the better.”
Another form of the idiomatic sentence just given is one which makes use of the connective in proportion as; for example, “People dread to be thought unsafe in proportion as they get their living by being thought to be safe.”—Bagehot. This can easily be changed to the older form,—“The more people get their living by being thought to be safe, the more do they dread to be thought unsafe.”
Note.—According as may be used in place of in proportion as, as in the following sentence,—“The Sonnets are more or less striking according as the occasions which gave birth to them are more or less interesting.”—Macaulay.