She is 20 centimeters smaller than he is.

[tzfujimino]

Hello.

One of my students wrote:

She is 20 centimeters smaller than he is.

I know the following sentences are correct:

She is shorter/smaller/taller than he is.
She is 20 centimeters shorter/taller than he is.

However, I'm not sure about 'She is 20 centimeters smaller ...' Is it acceptable?

Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's not colloquial. Stick to 'shorter'.

 

[tedmc]

I cannot imagine a person is '20 cm smaller' than another person.

not a teacher

 

[emsr2d2]

We refer to babies as being big and small.

She gave birth to a really big baby.
She had a really small baby.
My sister had a normal-size baby. The next day, my aunt gave birth but her baby was much smaller.

Once a child is able to stand up, we start using "height" terms - tall and short.