It is Japan’s third largest city.
Ordinal numbers are explained in paragraphs 2.232 to 2.239.
the least
2.122 When you want to show that something has less of a quality than anything else, you use the least followed by an adjective.
This is the least popular branch of medicine.
Similarly, when you are talking about a group of things that have less of a quality than other things of their kind, you use the least.
…the least savage men in the country.
Other ways of comparing things: saying that things are similar
2.123 Another way of describing things is by saying that something is similar in some way to something else.
talking about things with the same quality
2.124 If you want to say that a thing or person has as much of a quality as something or someone else, you can use a structure based on the word as in front of a qualitative adjective. Usually this adjective is followed by a phrase or clause that also begins with as.
This can be
You’re just as bad as your sister.
…huge ponds as big as tennis courts.
Takings were as high as ever.
Conversation was not as slow as I feared it would be.
The village gardens aren’t as good as they used to be.
2.125 When this comparative structure is followed by a phrase consisting of as and a pronoun on its own, the pronoun must be an object pronoun such as me, him, or her.
Jane was not as clever as him.
However, when the comparative structure is followed by a clause consisting of as and a pronoun that is the subject of a clause, then that pronoun must be a subject pronoun such as I, he or she.
They aren’t as clever as they appear to be.
2.126 If it is clear what you are comparing something or someone to, you can omit the phrase or clause.
Frozen peas are just as good.
2.127 You can also use the as…as… structure to say that something has much more or less of a quality than something else. You do this by putting an expression such as twice, three times, ten times, or half in front of the first as. For example, if one building is ten metres high and another building is twenty metres high, you can say that the second building is twice as high as the first building or that the first building is half as high as the second one.
The grass was twice as tall as in the rest of the field.
Water is eight hundred times as dense as air.
This structure is often used in the same way to refer to qualities that cannot be measured. For example, if you want to say that something is much more useful than something else, you can say that the first thing is a hundred times as useful as the second one.
Without this help, rearing our children would be ten times as hard as it is.
2.128 When the as…as… structure is preceded by not, it has the same meaning as less…than. For example, I am not as tall as George means the same as I am less tall than George. Some people use not so…as… instead of not as…as….
The film is not as good as the book.
The young otter is not so handsome as the old.
2.129 Words like just, quite, nearly and almost can be used in front of this comparative structure, modifying the comparison with their usual meanings.
Sunburn can be just as severe as a heat burn.
The use of these words in comparison is explained in paragraphs 2.157 to 2.168.
2.130 When you are using the as…as… structure you sometimes put a noun after the adjective and before the following phrase or clause. This noun must begin with a or an. For example, instead of saying This knife is as good as that one, you can say This is as good a knife as that one.
I’m as good a cook as she is.
This was not as bad a result as they expected.
Sometimes, instead of using not before this structure, you use not such followed by a or an, an adjective, a noun, and as.
Water is not such a good conductor as metal.
2.131 Instead of using this as…as… structure you can use expressions such as the height of and the size of to show that something is as big as something else, or bigger or smaller.
The tumour was the size of a golf ball.
It is roughly the length of a man’s arm.
like
2.132 If something has similar qualities or features to something else, instead of using the as…as… comparative structure you can say that the first thing is like the second one. You do this by using phrases beginning with like after linking verbs.
He looked like an actor.
That sounds like an exaggeration.
The whole thing is like a bad dream.
Here is a list of the linking verbs used with like:
be
feel
look
seem
smell
sound
taste
When you want to say that one thing resembles another, you can use a phrase beginning with like after these linking verbs.
It was like a dream.
Sometimes I feel like a prisoner here.
He looked like a nice man.
The houses seemed like mansions.
You smell like a tramp!