The less - the less/help

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The less - the less/help
Message from ibowsky posted on 17-08-2013 at 16:45:16 (D | E | F)
Hello,

Could you help me please?
"The less clumsy she is the less cups she breaks."
I can't understand this sentence.
Who can indicate me the logic of the words?
Thank you for your answers.

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Edited by lucile83 on 17-08-2013 17:50

Re: The less - the less/help from dolfine56, posted on 17-08-2013 at 17:20:10 (D | E)
hello Ibowsky,

I think it would be "the more clumsy she is, the more cups she breaks.
don't you think so?

Re: The less - the less/help from sherry48, posted on 17-08-2013 at 17:33:31 (D | E)
Hello.
As Dolfine said, when a person is clumsy, they will break a lot of cups!
When a person becomes more competent, they will drop fewer cups, and therefore not many will be broken.
I hope that helps.
Sherry

Re: The less - the less/help from hortensia, posted on 17-08-2013 at 18:41:58 (D | E)
Hello Ibowsky!
You could also say: "the clumsier..."
Have a nice evening!

Re: The less - the less/help from lemagemasque, posted on 19-08-2013 at 18:22:32 (D | E)
Hello!

"The less clumsy she is the less cups she breaks" comes from a test of mine: Link

I wasn't really imaginative at that moment...
Indeed, that makes more sense if you say "the more clumsy she is the more cups she breaks".
Anyway, you can't find many sentences with "the less... the less...".
See you!

Re: The less - the less/help from lucile83, posted on 19-08-2013 at 18:41:30 (D | E)
Hello lemagemasque

I proofread your test and I modified that sentence, because it was not correct in fact.
It would have been ok if you had written:
The less clumsy she is the fewer cups she breaks ...but it would have been off the subject (the less...the less).
I changed it into:
The less clumsy she is the less she cries.

Re: The less - the less/help from lemagemasque, posted on 21-08-2013 at 12:03:48 (D | E)
Hello lucile!

Right!
I thought I was OK with "less/fewer" but I was wrong... Really tricky grammar point!
Thank you!
See you!

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