Learn English – Construct a “the more x the more y” compound statement

grammarsyntactic-analysis

Something doesn't feel 100% correct in the structure of the following statement:

The longer you stay here, the higher the chances are that you'll never get there on time.

My question is, what should I do with the "are"?

  1. Leave it right where it is.
  2. Put it after the "higher".
  3. Put it after the "time".
  4. Get rid of it altogether.

Thanks

Best Answer

Both 2 and 3 are a little awkward, but 1 and 4 both sound good. Personally I prefer it how you have it now (1).

You could also try:

As you stay here, you're losing the chance of being there on time.

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