What is the difference between the sentences?

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
Email this Topic • Print this Page

My father has three times more money than my mother.
My father has three times as much money as my mother.

Is there any difference in meaning between the above sentences?

Thanks.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 7 • Views: 1,141 • Replies: 23

No top replies

@tanguatlay,

They are grammatically correct and mean the same thing.

0 Replies

@tanguatlay,

They mean the same thing, but the second is kind of awkward.

0 Replies

@tanguatlay,

I would think that the two sentences give a different result for how much your father has.let's assume your mother has $3000
Example 1: your father has three times this $9000 more than your mother, $1200
Example 2: your father has three times as much,$3000 by 3, $9000.

2 Replies

@PaddyH,

Paddy, I think you're trying too hard.

I think they both mean the same thing. Most people imho would take them to mean the same thing.

(and for what it's worth, I don't agree with Ceili that the second one is more awkward; I think it's the one I would use.)

2 Replies

@McTag,

McTag , as usual, is correct.

And there's no way I'm letting PaddyH determine how much we all pay at the restaurant.

1 Reply

@laughoutlood,

I suspect you'd be a runner in any case.

1 Reply

@PaddyH,

Wanna bet 3 times more money or 3 times as much?

I'll give you odds of p/(1-p)

it's my shout anyway

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Paddy, I think you're trying too hard.

I think they both mean the same thing. Most people imho would take them to mean the same thing.

(and for what it's worth, I don't agree with Ceili that the second one is more awkward; I think it's the one I would use.)

Agreed on all three counts, McTag.

Many native speakers have difficulties with expressing ratios and differences in words, and the word "more" can mean different things, depending on which of these is being expressed.

A has saved £50. B has saved £150.

Difference:
B has saved £100 more than A.

Ratio:
B has saved three times more than A.
-or-
B has saved three times as much as A.

1 Reply

@contrex,

more than=as much as,I don"t think so.

1 Reply

@tanguatlay,

tanguatlay wrote:

My father has three times more money than my mother.
My father has three times as much money as my mother.

Is there any difference in meaning between the above sentences?

Thanks.

They both convey the same basic meaning.

The second one is too wordy, something the Brits would prefer.

1 Reply

@InfraBlue,

Quote:

They both convey the same basic meaning.

The second one is too wordy, something the Brits would prefer.

Ha! I think what you were trying to say was, the first one is a bit sloppy, and the second one crisper, and preferable.

0 Replies

@PaddyH,

PaddyH wrote:

I would think that the two sentences give a different result for how much your father has.let's assume your mother has $3000
Example 1: your father has three times this $9000 more than your mother, $1200
Example 2: your father has three times as much,$3000 by 3, $9000.

if your first total was $12000 for Dad, I'd agree with your perspective

If someone said the first offering in the OP, I'd likely ask them what they meant.

The second one is clearer.

0 Replies

@PaddyH,

PaddyH wrote:

more than=as much as,I don"t think so.

"Times more than" and "times as much as" mean the same thing.

Maybe English is not your first language? Maybe you didn't know how to check?

Bloomberg wrote:

Canada Job Creation Four Times as Much as Forecast; Unemployment Increases

Canada’s job creation in January was more than four times the median forecast, pushing the Canadian dollar to its strongest level since May 2008 and adding to evidence the country’s economic recovery may be accelerating.

Daily Mail wrote:

Named and shamed: The council chief paid an 'eyewatering' £570,000 (that's FOUR TIMES as much as the Prime Minister)

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:30 AM on 19th February 2011

The former chief executive of a small district council received a total pay and pension package of almost £570,000 last year, it emerged today.

Phil Dolan was handed £569,000 when he took redundancy from South Somerset District Council in March.

And the local authority paid two other executives more than £300,000 - meaning it paid £1.3million of taxpayers money to just three employers.

Mr Dolan's package is four times the Prime Minister's £142,500 salary.

Citywire wrote:

Tax evasion costs Treasury 15 times more than benefit fraud

At £30 billion per year, fraud in the UK is more than twice as high as thought, with tax evasion costing the public purse over £15 billion per year and benefit fraud just over £1 billion.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Seems I somehow missed a zero in my first post ($1200 should have been $12000)

If the Council Chief had received 4 times more than,he would have received $712,500.
More than equals over & above.

1 Reply

@PaddyH,

My mother has 1,000 quid of filthy lucre hidden in a shoe box.

My father has one quarter times more money than my mother.

My father has one quarter times as much money as my mother.

Ooo err.

Words mean whatever they are intended to mean.

Not only but also

My father has more money than my mother.

My father has as much money as my mother.

But curiously most people take the original phrases as they are intended, as synonyms.

0 Replies

@tanguatlay,

I think there is a big difference between 'more than' and 'as much as'.

'As much as' suggests 'equal to' (for the example given 3 times 3,000 = 9,000) whereas 'more than' suggests 'in excess of' (ie 9,000 more than the original amount =12,000)

1 Reply

@ragnel,

Thank you for explaining in a clearer and more (i.e greater than) succinct way exactly what I'd been trying to convey to other posters.

1 Reply

@PaddyH,

PaddyH wrote:

Thank you for explaining in a clearer and more (i.e greater than) succinct way exactly what I'd been trying to convey to other posters.

ragnel is just guessing off the top of his head. He or she (and you) are mistaken.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Please do yourself a favour and learn the English language.More than, means of a greater amount.Much as, means of an equal amount.

To use a movie title of a while back "Dumb and Dumber".The secondary character was dumb to a greater extent (more) than the first.

1 Reply

What is the difference between the sentences?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know