the + comparative adjective + clause + the + comparative adjective + clause.
The author A A Milne uses this many times in his “Winnie the Pooh” books, e.g.
“And all the time Winnie-the-Pooh had been trying to get the honey-jar off his head. The more he shook it, the more tightly it stuck.” [1]
Possibly the most well-known example is: “The more it snows (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom), On Snowing.” [2]
This construction can be useful in scientific writing. For example,
“The larger the diameter, or aperture, of the telescope, the greater its ability to gather more light and the higher its resolution (or ability to image fine details).”
Other examples:
“And the more different pairs of socks you start with, the higher the odds of producing odd socks becomes.”
“the more people who travel, the cheaper the journey becomes for everyone.”
The construction is sometimes shortened to take the form:
the + comparative adjective + the + comparative adjective.
An example is the commonly used phrase, “the more the merrier,” meaning that a situation will be improved by more people or things, e.g. “It’s all about raising awareness so the more the merrier and if people wanted to get some sponsorship as well, that’s an added bonus.”
Other examples:
“The smaller the better, especially when it comes to carbon-rich fibrous materials such as cardboard, straw, newspaper, plant stalks, woody stems and autumn leaves which should ideally be shredded or chopped up before being added.”
[1] Milne, A. A.; Shepherd, E. H.; Winnie-the-Pooh (pp. 68–69). Egmont UK. Kindle Edition.
[2] Milne, A. A.; The House at Pooh Corner (p.4). Egmont UK Ltd. Kindle Edition.
Photo credit: Marco Verch (Creative Commons Licence)
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