Comparisons

One aspect of academic writing that sometimes irritates students is its precision. The good writer says exactly what she or he means. This is true not only in logic and its subject matter, but also in terms of grammar.

To take one common example: be sure that when you are making a comparison between two things, they are both of the same type.

It is not true to say that "The people of the USA are richer than the UK", nor that "American national income is higher than Spain." What is true is that "The people of the USA are richer than the people (or those) of the UK" and that "American national income is higher than that of Spain."

Something that is higher than Spain might be the Himalaya mountains, or Tibet.

See also Comparisons - grammar and degree of comparison.