Less + Adjective + than (2025)

Hi There,

What are the rules of forming negative comparative sentences?

With adjective of more than 2 syllables, it seems like substituting more with less works all the time.

• A is more beautiful than B. vs. A is less beautiful than B.
• A is more careful than B. vs. A is less careful than B.
• A is more interesting than B. vs. A is less interesting than B.

but with adjectives of 1 or 2 syllables, the rule does not apply.
The other solution is to use not as..as, but for the sake of figuring this out, could you help clarifying the rules?

Sounds weird:

• A is happier than B. vs. A is less happy than B.
• A is cleverer than B. vs. A is less clever than B.
• A is bolder than B. vs. A is less bold than A.
• A is taller than B. vs. A is less tall than A.
• A is younger than B. vs. A is less young than B.
• A is stronger than B. vs. A is less strong than B.

After citing all these examples, maybe it is not conventional to use less + adjective with adjective of 1 or 2 syllables? With adjectives of 1 or 2 syllable, we need to use the as..as structure. Would you agree with this conclusion?

Thanks a lot,
Chris

Uncle Jack said:

What do you mean by "as...as"? All your examples use "less [adjective] than", which is correct. You have not used "as...as" anywhere.

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The as...as structure i was referring to:

• A is not as happy as B.
• A is not as clever as B.
• ...

rhitagawr said:

I suppose A is more beautiful than B means B isn't as beautiful as A. (Careful has only two syllables.) In any case, A is less beautiful than B isn't a negative sentence.
A is less bold than B sounds all right, although perhaps you'd be more likely to say B is bolder than A or A isn't as bold as B.
A is less young than B sounds odd. This is probably because you could say older. If I'm eighty, I'm older than than someone who's seventeen. If I'm less young, I could still be young. But I wouldn't consider myself young if I were eighty. I don't think it's got anything to do with the number of syllables in young.

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rhitagawr said:

A is less beautiful than B isn't a negative sentence.

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what do you mean? Why isn't it a negative sentence?

noexcuse_hope said:

what do you mean? Why isn't it a negative sentence?

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A negative sentence is one where the verb is modified by "not".

"B isn't as beautiful as A" is a negative sentence
"A is more beautiful than B" is not
"B is less beautiful than A" isn't a negative sentence either​

It does not matter that all three sentences mean the same thing.

rhitagawr said:

A is less young than B sounds odd. This is probably because you could say older.

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I agree entirely.

Most of the "weird" sounding ones in post #1 (which don't sound particularly weird to me) have a corresponding "opposite comparative" form:

less happy - sadder
less tall - shorter
less young - older
less strong - weaker​

While for each of them the "not as...as" form is fine, having such an obvious alternative to the "less..." form makes it far less likely to be used, although I would not say that any of them are wrong. "Less clever" and "less bold" seem fine to me.

Got it!

Uncle Jack said:

A negative sentence is one where the verb is modified by "not".
"B isn't as beautiful as A" is a negative sentence
"A is more beautiful than B" is not
"B is less beautiful than A" isn't a negative sentence eitherIt does not matter that all three sentences mean the same thing.

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Uncle Jack said:

I agree entirely.

Most of the "weird" sounding ones in post #1 (which don't sound particularly weird to me) have a corresponding "opposite comparative" form:
less happy - sadder
less tall - shorter
less young - older
less strong - weakerWhile for each of them the "not as...as" form is fine, having such an obvious alternative to the "less..." form makes it far less likely to be used, although I would not say that any of them are wrong. "Less clever" and "less bold" seem fine to me.

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Thanks a lot. I see the pattern that you pointed out. It seems like all these short words have a corresponding opposite comparative form.