I have a question about the sentence structure "the comparative adjective … the comparative adjective" and "the comparative adverb … the comparative adverb." (As in, "The more he practiced, the better he played.")
My question is, is it fine when one of the comparatives is an adjective, and the other is an adverb? When you are talking about people whose lives became busy, can you say this sentence?
The busier their lives became, the less frequently they saw their
friends.
I am not sure if this sentence is fine because "the busier" is an adjective, but "the less frequently" is an adverb.
Best Answer
There is no requirement in English grammar that a single sentence must contain only comparative adjectives or else only comparative adverbs. A sentence containing a comparative adjective may contain a comparative adverb.
Some purist might insist (but I would not) that it is poor style to have a comparative adjective in one parallel clause and a comparative adverb in a different parallel clause. Such a purist might write
Such a rewrite admittedly strengthens the parallelism. But parallelism is just one aspect of style, and a natural and relaxed syntax is a different aspect of style.
Your sentence is fine.