Exercise about adjectives and parallel/gradual increase

[laepelba]

I have a couple of quick questions about my current exercises in the chapter on adjectives.

First of all, the examples given in the text of the chapter:
- Cuanto más rico eres, más amigos tienes. (The richer you are, the more friends you have.) (NOTE: Malila, my tutor has also given me a different construction of this using the word "entre". Here I want to stick with what the chapter in the text is getting at.)
- Estás cada vez más guapa. (You are more and more beautiful.)
- Estás cada vez más alto. (You are taller and taller.)

Now, the exercises about which I have questions. I give here the book's answers and my question about the wordings.

1. Cuanto más alto te hagas, mejor jugarás al baloncesto. (My question: the example in the text uses the indicative in the first part of the sentence. The answer to this exercise, though, uses the subjunctive only in this sentence. The rest use the indicative. What is the difference?)

2. The original given sentence was "Ya no hay tantas casas baratas en esta zona como hace unos años" and I was instructed to rewrite the sentence using the word "cada".
The book's answer: Cada vez hay menos casas baratas en esta zona. (My question: would it be correct to write "cada año hay menos casas baratas en esta zona"?)

4. Cada día estás más guapa. (My question: would it be correct to write "Estás cada día más guapa"?)

Thank you very much for any suggestions you can give me!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by laepelba

- Cuanto más rico eres, más amigos tienes. (The richer you are, the more friends you have.) (NOTE: Malila, my tutor has also given me a different construction of this using the word "entre". Here I want to stick with what the chapter in the text is getting at.)

The construction "cuanto más..., (tanto) más" is a bit archaic in Mexico, so the usual structure for us is "entre más..., más".

Originally Posted by laepelba

1. Cuanto más alto te hagas, mejor jugarás al baloncesto. (My question: the example in the text uses the indicative in the first part of the sentence. The answer to this exercise, though, uses the subjunctive only in this sentence. The rest use the indicative. What is the difference?)

"Cuanto/entre más alto te haces" is some sort of universal statement. The general case of what always happens.
"Cuanto/entre más alto te hagas" is applied to a specific case, like when you talk to a child who will eventually be tall enough for playing better.

Originally Posted by laepelba

My question: would it be correct to write "cada año hay menos casas baratas en esta zona"?

I see you weren't sticking here to the book's proposed structure, but yes, it would be alright. However, your sentence would introduce a much less general idea than "cada vez", which could express many other reasons why I notice the prices rising, like "every time I check the prices", or "every few months", "every time I see someone moving here", "every time I pass by"...


Your answer in #4 is fine.

[aleCcowaN]

Just to add that "cada vez" ends meaning "increasingly something" or a one way progression.

Hay menos casas baratas en la zona (a "photo" --> there are less houses to buy on a budget)
Cada vez hay menos casas baratas en la zona (a "process" ---> real estate is increasingly expensive)

Think about "cada vez estás más [insert very good or very bad thing]" meaning "you keep breaking your own record on []" ---> Esta serie está cada vez [más estúpida; más aburrida; más repetitiva; recurriendo a tramas más ridículas; más llena de clichés]

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

...Cada vez hay menos casas baratas en la zona (a "process" ---> real state estate is increasingly expensive)
...

A case where English also has a leading 'e' before an s+consonant sequence...

[ROBINDESBOIS]

In Spain that structure is very common, the aswer to 1 was given by Angelica, your aswers to numbers 2 and 4 are correct, you know that in Spanish the word order is not as rigid as in English.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by wrholt

A case where English also has a leading 'e' before an s+consonant sequence...

Thanks! (It was 2:30 a.m. and my neighbour's son was making a racket with his friends)

[laepelba]

Thanks, everyone. I understand all of the examples now.