Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Proportions

Reading this,
http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,542461,00.html
I found this (interesting article BTW):
(An Aeron chair is to an office stool as Concorde is to a paper
aeroplane.) 
Were I to write a similar sentence, I think I'd use "A is to X _what_
B is to Z", instead of "_as_". Now I think I'm wrong, of course. 
Comments?
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscalinet.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/

 aeroplane.)
Quando si dice un esempio indovinato!!!!

Comments?
In my book, you
are right and John Noughton is wrong.
In the example you quote, "as" is
probably intended as a contraction of "the same as", but as it stands in
your example "as" is grammatically wrong.
Have you already ordered your
Aeron chair?
---
Xakero
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://usenet.iol.it
 

Comments?
It's a common form of question in IQ tests and the like, and
"as" is always used, e.g.
Bird is to wing as fish is to (gill / fin / leg / scale)
J

 Isa
A is to B, as C is to D
_Know_ you are wrong, no 'thinking' about it. :-)))))) 
However the ungrammatical use of what has a long and honoured
tradition in spoken English. "What (chiefly substandard) is used for
that, which, who."
'As' instead means "in similar degree or amount', much better to use.
Like is sometimes used for the same reason. A to B is like B to C. 
One could get really wordy and repetitive and say. "As A is to B, so
is C to D the same."
(yuck - this is NOT recommended  )
Thus endeth the lesson. ;-)
Cheers,
Loki
  Brevity is the soul of wit.    W.Shakespeare

 your example "as" is grammatically wrong. 
nope nope nope, hate to be a wet blanket (...umm... maybe not...) 
;-))
The dictionary definition:
As'  means "in similar degree or amount'. There are other definitions
but this seems to be the one used when doing comparisons.
Also this not I found:
English has three degrees of comparison: the positive, the
comparitive
and the superlative, The positive degree denotes equality:
I am as good as you are.
Piú chiaro?
Cheers,
Loki
-- 


I am as good as you are.
Aye, but
you are comparing adjectives.
A pear is as sweet as an apple. How is a
pear?
In the article referenced by Isa
(
http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,542461,00.html
), John
Noughton writes:
"An Aeron chair is to an office stool as Concorde is to a
paper aeroplane." Somehow, in my ear, it just doesn't sound right. But I
guess I shall have to get used to it, have my ears tuned differently.
Henry loves living in a caravan. Mike lives in a luxurious villa. The
caravan is to Henry (blank) the villa is to Mike. What goes in the blank?
What, not how, is the caravan to Henry? It is his abode. It is that which
the villa is to Mike. It is what the villa is to Mike. It is to Henry what
the villa is to Mike. (I'm getting dizzy)


_Know_ you are wrong, no 'thinking' about it. :-)))))) 
[...]
I think I see your point, darling... no, I /know/ I see it :^)


> are right and John Noughton is wrong.
Sweet balm for my tired eyes-- pity I can't see Xakero's message on my
news reader?


news reader?
We shall have
to something about this. I wonder what your newsreader has against my
messages.
In the meantime, try here:
http://usenet.iol.it/cgi-
bin/ViewArticle.pl?MESSAGE_ID=%3Cmrrastsd5jt4cnin3d5sha4e4a1i9gpkl8%404ax%2Ecom%3E&TABLES=LAST6MESI


 the villa is to Mike. (I'm getting dizzy)
Wot? I know not what of which you speak. Just use 'as', people will
say 'what' but as is the better word. In fact I'd change it totally
and avoid it like I avoid turning right into traffic without lights.
(left for you in Italy) "Mike likes his  mansion as much as Henry
likes his hovel."
 You even get the alliteration for free. :-)))
cheers,
Loki
Ours is not to reason why, 
ours is but to speak and die.
