past tense - Compared to or Comparing to?

Short answer: Think of it as like a passive voice. In "She is nice, compar___ to you", "she" is being compared by the speaker. She is not the ... EnglishLanguageLearnersStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforspeakersofotherlanguageslearningEnglish.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. LearnmoreaboutTeams ComparedtoorComparingto? AskQuestion Asked 5years,8monthsago Modified 5years,8monthsago Viewed 52ktimes 6 1 Iamnotsurewhatiscomparedinthisphrasebutitseemsthatpeoplebelieveitasthecorrectword. Sheisnice,comparedtoyou. You'renicer,comparedtohim. Butwhy?Whatmakescomparedcorrect?Grammaticallyapastverbneedsasubjectright?Shecomparedhercarwiththenewonethisoneisgrammaticalcorrect,butthisoneisnotThecarisbetter,comparedtoheroldcarwhichoneisthesubject?Asabeginnerinenglish,I'drathertakecomparingasitisnotagainstwhatI'velearned Sheisnicer,comparingtoyou Comparingistheactoftocompare.Agerunddoesn'tneedsubjects: swimmingisnice. It'snotdonethere,thewholethingisgettingworseaftersomeonesaysthatcomparedisnotaprepositionnorconjuctionbutaplainpastparticiple,everytimeIaskpeopletheysaythat'scorrectBUTnoonehasbeenabletoexplainit. ImaybewrongasaverybeginnerEnglishspeakerbutpleasehelpmetofigureoutregardingthisproblem,whatisthestateofcomparedhere?Isthatpastparticiple,pasttense,conjunctionorpreposition,andwhatistherulesthatmakeitcorrect?,thanksinadvance!Ithasdrivenmyconcentrationrecently. past-tense Share Improvethisquestion Follow askedDec28,2016at13:38 ChaesarIbraniChaesarIbrani 49533goldbadges88silverbadges1717bronzebadges 4 1 Shortanswer:Thinkofitaslikeapassivevoice.In"Sheisnice,compar___toyou","she"isbeingcomparedbythespeaker.Sheisnottheonedoingthecomparing.Inasentencelike"Thecarisbetter,comparedtoheroldcar",Thecarisstillthesubjectofthemainclause(thecarisbetter).comparedtoheroldcarisaparticipialphrase.It'snotreallycorrecttosay"agerunddoesn'tneedsubjects",becausethegerundisthesubject.It'snotthataverbneedsasubject,asentenceneedsasubject. – stangdon Dec28,2016at14:39 Ohokaysoit'sbasicallyapassive,Sheisnice,sheisbeingcomparedbymetoher?Butwithoutrepetitivesubject?Soit'scorrecttosaySheisnice,beingcomparedtoyou? – ChaesarIbrani Dec28,2016at14:50 "Beingcomparedtoyou"isnotcorrectinthatcontext.Inaphraselikethat,youdon'tneedasubject.That'skindofthemaindifferencebetweenaphraseandasentenceoraclause-aphrasedoesn'thavetohaveasubjectandaverb,itjusthelpstoexplainsomethingaboutthemainclause. – stangdon Dec28,2016at15:13 OhalrightI'vejustreadtheparticiplephrasearticlesoit'sjustagroupofwordsthatdescribesanounright?Ifit'scorrectyourcommenthelpsmealot!Thanksinadvance,youhavetopostananswerforthis. – ChaesarIbrani Dec28,2016at15:21 Addacomment  |  2Answers 2 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 8 Youcanthinkofitthisway Sheisnicer,comparedtoyou. sheisnicer,whencomparedtoyou. sheisnicer,ifcomparedtoyou. You'renicer,comparedtohim. you'renicer,whencomparedtohim. you'renicer,ifcomparedtohim. thesameas You'retallerwhenmeasuredagainsthim. youaretallerthanheis Ifyou'dratheruse"comparing" Comparingyouandher,sheisnicer. comparingyoutoher,sheisnicer. Comparingyouandhim,youarenicer. comparingyoutohim,youarenicer Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec28,2016at17:50 PeterPeter 65.4k66goldbadges6262silverbadges120120bronzebadges 1 "comparingyoutoher"seemswrongtomebecauseitmustbeomittingthesubject"she"toformthesentence,whichmessesupthemeaning. – Toma Nov11,2021at13:13 Addacomment  |  1 Whatmakescomparedcorrect? Inthis: Sheisnice,comparedtoyou. youarequalifyingsheisniceinthesamemannerasyouwouldqualifyanounwithanadjective-youareansweringquestionslike"whatkindofX","howmanyofX","whatqualitiesdoesXhave." Soyoumustusethe"adjective"formofverbswhichareparticipials.Gerundsappearwherenounsgo,notmodifiers,sotheyarenotexpectedtodirectlymodifyothernouns. Itistruethepresentparticipleandgerundarethesameforms.However,itdoesnotnormallymakelogicalsenseforyoutorenderajudgement(sheisnice)ifyouhavenotcompletedcomparing,otherwisehowcouldyousaythat?Soyoumustsaycomparedunlessyouexplainotherwisewithadditionalwords. Youcouldsaythis: RightnowIthinksheisnice,incomparinghertoyou(implyingyoumaychangeyourmindwhencomparingiscompleted) Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec28,2016at14:19 LawrenceCLawrenceC 35.9k2424silverbadges7474bronzebadges 3 1 Iamstillconfusedwhatisthestateofcomparedhere?Isthatpastparticiple?Sowecanbasicallyusepastparticiplewithoutsubject?.Mycarisawesome,driventothelakeandbroken.Isthiscorrect? – ChaesarIbrani Dec28,2016at14:42 Ithinkbutamnot100%surethatparticiplesdon'thavesubjectssincetheymodifyanoun,andthatanytimeyouseeapossessivedeterminerorobjectpronouninfrontofan-ingword(e.g.Himwalkingthedogmadememad),whichisthewayyou'dexpressthe"subject"ofaverbal,it'sgoingtobeagerund. – LawrenceC Dec28,2016at14:46 Imeanthatinthissentence,"Sheisnice,comparedtoyou"whatisthestateof"Compared"isthatpastparticipleandwhatisthesubject?Orit'sapassivethatlinkstothemainsubjectwithoutrepetitivesubjectsuchas"sheisnice,sheisbeingcomparedbymetoher".Orpastparticiplehasparticularusagetobewithoutsubject,asthatbeingsaidabove,whichI'veneverlearnedanywhere,allmyquestioniswhatis"compared"let'skeepthetopictothis – ChaesarIbrani Dec28,2016at14:56 Addacomment  |  Youmustlogintoanswerthisquestion. 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