as ... than ...

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Aug 22, 2011, at 9:11 PM, victor steinbok wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      as ... than ...
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is this standard usage?
>
> [Tea Party] supporters were twice as likely than others to favor a
>> constitutional amendment banning flag burning...
>
>
>
> I see this once in a while and it always makes me shudder. But I am hesitant
> to say it's "wrong".

not standard, but certainly (reasonably well) attested.

 MWDEU p. 893:

There are a number of syntactic blends involving than, some of which are separately treated in this book: see as good or better than; hardly ... than; scarcely ... than.

... Harper 1985 mentions a couple of instances of twice as many ... than, which would seem to be compounded of more ... than and twice as many ... as.  We have also found the construction with much:

... twice as much office space is being built this year in the suburbs around New York
City than in Manhattan – N.Y. Times, 27 July 1985

.....

 some exx from Google web search on {“twice as likely” than} 4/25/07:

An Australian study shows that men who sit at their desks more than six hours a day are nearly twice as likely to be overweight than those who sit for less ...
www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050719/more-you-sit-at-work-more-you-weigh

Individuals with Genetic Conditions Twice as Likely to Report Denial of Health Insurance than Individuals with Other Chronic Illness.
www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2007/kass_genetic_testing.html

Johns Hopkins study shows that individuals with genetic conditions are twice as likely to report having been denied health insurance than individuals with ...
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/jhu-iwg021207.php

The study found that children ages 6 to 11 and ages 12 to 17 who were obese were more than twice as likely to have diabetes than children of the same age ...
www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=77

These all have material intervening between as likely and than.  But there are plenty of examples with as likely than, e.g.:

... patients with major depression appear twice as likely than those who are not depressed to die or be re-admitted to the hospital within 12 months.
www.scienceblog.com/communityolder/2001/B/200111881.html

They are twice as likely than the average adult and more likely than readers of all other quality titles to agree to the statement “I consider myself ...
adinfo-guardian.co.uk/the-observer/obs-reader-profile.shtml

Adults abused during childhood are more than twice as likely than those not abused during childhood to have serious substance abuse problems.
www.annafoundation.org/wchac-stats.html

MONDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- Men with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more than twice as likely than women with the illness to pass it on to their ...
www.multiplesclerosis.com/admin/templates/news.aspx?articleid=348&zoneid=50









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