The same height as me
More on height, weight and age etc.

    In last week's lesson we looked at the words: height, weight, age. One structure in which these words often occur is the same ____ as ____. When we compare people, places or objects we can use phrases like these:

    • Akiko Wada is taller than Miho Kanno.
    • Miho Kanno isn't as tall as Akiko Wada.
    • Namie Amuro is roughly the same height as Miho Kanno.
      (or: Namie Amuro and Miho Kanno are roughly the same height ).

    COMMENT:
    Please be careful with the last example. Sometimes I've heard students say things like:

    • She is the same tall as me.
    • She is the same height to me.

    There are 2 points to remember here:

    1. After the same... be sure to use the noun, HEIGHT, not the adjective, tall. Other words we can use after the same include WEIGHT, AGE, HEIGHT, SIZE, LENGTH, DEPTH, WIDTH.

    2. Notice the preposition: as. When you learn a phrase like the same height as.... Be sure to learn every part of the phrase. Don't just learn the phrase "same age" - learn THE same age AS... Paying attention to the whole phrase and remembering those little words like, as, will help you to speak English more accurately.

    Exactly the same or roughly the same?

    Look again at the sentence about Namie Amuro and Miho Kanno. What word occurs immediately before "the same"?

    • Namie Amuro is ROUGHLY the same height as Miho Kanno.

    In fact, according to my information, Namie is 158 centimetres and Miho is 160 centimetres (apologies to their fans if I've got that wrong). So, because their heights are close but not exactly the same, we can say: They're roughly the same height

    Other words and phrases we can use before same, and which mean something similar to roughly are: ABOUT, ALMOST, APPROXIMATELY, NEARLY, JUST ABOUT, PRETTY MUCH, VIRTUALLY.

    TWO MORE USEFUL PHRASES:
    MORE OR LESS:

    • They're more or less the same age

    This means something like: they're not exactly the same age, but the difference is so small that it isn't important.

    GIVE OR TAKE:

    • They're the same age, give or take a few years.
    • They're the same height, give or take a couple of centimetres.

    Like more or less this means something like not exactly the same, but the difference isn't so important.

    Exercise

    How could you rewrite the following sentences using the same?

    1. My cousin John was born in October 1954 and I was born in April 1955.
    2. My wife is 160 centimetres tall and I think my mother is about 160 centimetres, too.
    3. The River Clyde is 159 kilometres long and the River Spey is 158 kilometres long.
    4. The average man weighs 77 kilogrammes. The average orang utan weighs 75 kilogrammes.
    5. Ethiopia has an area of approximately 1,221,900 square kilometres. South Africa has an area of approximately 1,221,031 square kilometres

    With this exercise several answers are possible, but click here to see some suggested answers.

    Click here if you want to try some of my other one-point lessons.

    © Robert E. Jones, 2004