And "then" I asked

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I'm usually pretty good with grammar, but I was working on a piece a moment ago and my wires got crossed on an instance of using the comparative of 'than' against the active 'then'

"He apparently had about as much control over what came out of his mouth than what went in it."

It would be 'than' wouldn't it? Because your comparing it to the previous action, but it's an action? I'm not 100%, but I'm pretty sure.
 

Roxxsmom

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I'd use "as" there, not than.

He apparently had about as much control over what came out of his mouth as (he did over) what went in it.

If I were being grammatically proper (and not colloquial or casual), I'd include the part in parentheses too.

"the use of "than" would make more sense to me if you said, "He had more (or less) control over what came out of his mouth than he did over what went into it."

The best explanation I can come up with for why I feel this way is because when we make comparisons something is greater than or less than but something is equal to or the same as (not the same than or equal than).
 
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I believe you both are right and I appreciate the help, and hastiness. I probably should have caught that, but I doubt I would have in editing. I'm glad I posted that question. I do kind of get annoyed by using the same preposition twice in a sentence. I'm writing in the third person so I don't have to worry about colloquial expressions, and it's not directly quoting any persons thought which will exclude causally phrasing it.

Quick thread. Plenty of room left to jabber if the urge strikes anyone before it is buried by time. :Sun:
 
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morngnstar

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He apparently had about as much control over what came out of his mouth than what went in it.

More than
As much as
Less than

When in doubt, try to trim out all the details of your sentence down to the bare minimum, and see if it still sounds right.

He had as much control than me.
He had as much control as me.

If you are a native English speaker, you can easily tell which one of these is right.