twice as high as vs two times higher than

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maoyueh

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Do the following two sentences have the same meaning, or B is one time higher than A? Thank you very much.

A. Your salary is twice as high as mine.
B. Your salary is two times higher than mine.
 
maoyueh said:
Do the following two sentences have the same meaning, or B is one time higher than A? Thank you very much.

A. Your salary is twice as high as mine.
B. Your salary is two times higher than mine.
Click to expand...

They would appear to mean the same, but I can't see any good reason to use B.
 
bhaisahab said:
They would appear to mean the same, but I can't see any good reason to use B.
Click to expand...

There is fair body of literature to the effect that the two phrases do not mean the same thing. That is, a number that is twice as higher as another number is two times as high as the other number. But a number that is two time higher than another number would would be three times as high as the other the number. For example, 2 is twice as high or two times as high as 1; 3 is three times as high or two times higher than 1. I maintain a web page discussing that literature, but also discussing how "times higher" and similar usages predominate even in scientific journals. See the Times Higher Issues subpage of the Vignettes page of jpscanlan.com.
 
jscanlan said:
There is fair body of literature to the effect that the two phrases do not mean the same thing. That is, a number that is twice as higher as another number is two times as high as the other number. But a number that is two time higher than another number would would be three times as high as the other the number. For example, 2 is twice as high or two times as high as 1; 3 is three times as high or two times higher than 1. I maintain a web page discussing that literature, but also discussing how "times higher" and similar usages predominate even in scientific journals. See the Times Higher Issues subpage of the Vignettes page of jpscanlan.com.
Click to expand...

Another good reason to avoid option "B."
 
Sorry to poke my nose in but I have a question about your comments, Jscanlan.

I'm not familiar with the expression "twice as higher as another number." I learned that we should put a positive form like old and young, not older or younger. How come you use this expression and it is grammatically correct? If you give any explanations or pointers, I'd be very happy. Thank you.
 
hetzer said:
Sorry to poke my nose in but I have a question about your comments, Jscanlan.

I'm not familiar with the expression "twice as higher as another number." I learned that we should put a positive form like old and young, not older or younger. How come you use this expression and it is grammatically correct? If you give any explanations or pointers, I'd be very happy. Thank you.
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I'd guess that is a typo. It could be meaningful, but it would be confusing, given that people can't even cope with "two times higher."

But since you ask: A = 1 metre high; B = 2 m; C = 3m.
C is 2 metres higher than A; B is 1 meter higher than A; Both B and C are higher than A, but C is twice as higher than A than B is. And C is just as higher than B as B is than A.
(Now, please forget all about it).
 
Thanks.
But your explanation gives me another question.
Is "C is twice as higher than A" grammatically correct? I have never heard nor read this expression.
 
hetzer said:
Thanks.
But your explanation gives me another question.
Is "C is twice as higher than A" grammatically correct? I have never heard nor read this expression.
Click to expand...
No it isn't.
 
:up: Of course not. Just think about it. The words 'as high as' make a comparison; 'higher' is comparative. Using them both at the same time makes no sense.

(Of course, the fact that something makes no sense doesn't mean nobody will ever use it. In Nashville Cats John Sebastian wrote something like - you can find it on the net if you can stand the bombardment of spam pushing ring-tones! - 'they all play twice as better than I will'.)

b
 
You'll even find twice as gooder if you search. ;-)
 
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