Laos has a land area

[JustinCKN]

Hi Manhattanprep Instructor,

I have a question on the usage of 'same...as'

From the previous post:
your template is 'A has more stuff than B'.
Laos has the same land area as Country X (correct)

*Laos has the same land area as that of Country X (incorrect)

Comparison： ‘ Laos vs. Country X’ (subject vs. subject)

----
If my template is not "A has more stuff than B'
can the sentence below be correct?

Laos has the same land area as the land area of Country X.

Comparison: 'land area vs. land area of country X. （object vs. object）

Ref:
Goethe coincidently cits the same colors as primary colors.

Comparison: the same colors as primary colors (object vs. object）


Thx.

[Whit Garner]

Comparisons can be REALLY tricky! Let's see if I can help clear up the template idea. Let's take the following constructions:

more _____ than (or just "more than")
same _____ as (or just "same as")
as many ______ as (or just " as many as")

Notice that any of these constructions can be fully stripped down:
My car is the same as my sister's car.

Alternatively, the comparison might be more complex and refer to a specific aspect of the thing we're comparing:
My car is the same color as my sister's car.

Things get most complicated when you're dealing with the NON-stripped down version. My trick is to read the sentence pulling all of the specifying text out from the comparison marker to see if I actually am comparing the same thing. For example:

The Amindo Bank has more customers on average than those of the Harria Bank.

Do I need to include "those of" since we're talking about customers?? I test by stripping out the specifying test that was snuggled into the middle of the comparison marker ("customers on average"):

The Amindo Bank has more customers on average than those of the Harria Bank.

I want to compare what one bank HAS to what another bank has. I don't want to use "those of" here - it is incorrect.

So let's look at your example:

Laos has the same land area as the land area of Country X.

Laos has the same land area as the land area of Country X.
Laos has the same land area as Country X.

We want to compare Laos to another country, not to a land area. Since the "land area" is rolled into the comparison marker, we don't want to repeat it!

[JustinCKN]

Hi Whit Garner,

thx for ur KIND help to spend so much time on my question.
I understand your example:
The Amindo Bank has more customers on average than the Harria Bank.
what the sentence wants to compare is 'Amindo Bank' vs. ‘Harria Bank’,
namely Subject1 vs. Subject 2

but for my sentence:
Justin coincidently cites the same colors as primary colors.
is my sentence correct?
what my sentence wants to compare is object 1(same colors) vs. object 2(primary colors)

thx!
have a good one.
Justin

[Whit Garner]

Hi Justin! My pleasure.

Unfortunately, your example about the colors is a little tricky because I'm not sure what you're actually trying to say - I'm sorry, the grammar is off enough that the meaning is no longer clear. What do you mean when you say "cite the same colors"? In typical usage, the word "cite" would mean to quote, mention, or praise something, which doesn't make logical sense in your sentence.

Justin coincidently cites the same colors as primary colors.

Can you tell me in more detail what it is that you're actually trying to say? Ignore trying to make it a single sentence or trying to worry about grammar.

[JustinCKN]

Hi Whit Garner,

Thanks for your patience with my question. My example came from TPO Listening - Primary Colors. that article mentioned that at the beginning of modern-day chromatics, people didn't know that red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors.

in Color lesson, Goethe coincidently cites the same colors as primary colors.

I know that the sentences in TPO might not be strict in accordance with standard English grammar.

thx.
have a good one.

Justin.