5 exercises — practise "twice as... as" and "X times as many/much" for reporting metrics.
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses a multiplicative comparison to describe a performance improvement?
"The new index makes queries twice as fast as the old one" correctly uses the "twice as + adjective + as" pattern for a multiplicative comparison. Option B incorrectly mixes "times faster than" with a stray "as", combining two valid patterns ("twice as fast as" and "two times faster than") into one ungrammatical hybrid. Option C incorrectly inserts "more" between "twice" and "fast", which is redundant since "twice as fast" already expresses the full comparison. Option D incorrectly places "as" before "twice" instead of after it.
2 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "X times as many" with a countable noun to compare request volumes?
"The API now handles three times as many requests as it did last quarter" is correct: "as many" is used with the countable noun "requests", and the multiplier "three times" precedes the whole "as many...as" frame. Option B incorrectly uses "as much", which pairs with uncountable nouns, not the countable "requests". Option C scrambles the word order of the fixed pattern. Option D incorrectly combines "more" with "as many", which is redundant and non-standard.
3 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "half as" to describe a metric that has been reduced by that proportion?
"After the fix, the build takes half as long as it used to" correctly uses the "half as + adjective + as" pattern to express a proportional reduction. Option B incorrectly places "as" before "half". Option C incorrectly uses the comparative "longer" inside the "as...as" frame, which requires the base adjective form, not the comparative. Option D incorrectly adds the article "a" before "half" and mixes in "than", which does not belong to this construction.
4 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "as much" with an uncountable technical noun in a multiplicative comparison?
"This instance type uses roughly twice as much memory as the previous one" is correct: "as much" pairs with the uncountable noun "memory". Option B incorrectly uses "as many", which requires a countable, pluralizable noun, but "memory" (as an amount of RAM) is uncountable here. Option C incorrectly pluralizes "memories", treating it as countable, which changes its meaning to "recollections" rather than RAM capacity. Option D scrambles the fixed word order of "twice as much...as".
5 / 5
Which sentence correctly reports a regression using a multiplicative comparison with a specific multiplier?
"P99 latency is now four times as high as it was before the release" is correct: the multiplier "four times" precedes the complete "as high as" comparative frame. Option B scrambles the word order, placing "as" between the number and "times". Option C is missing the first "as" required before the adjective "high", breaking the "as...as" frame. Option D incorrectly places "as" before the multiplier "four times" instead of directly before the adjective.