Applying ～すればするほど (and its variants) to various part of speech


# Verbs

> 気にしなければ気にしないほど、息子がもっと煩くなる。The more I ignore him, the more noisy he is.

# Adjectives (i adjectives)

> 牛乳は入れた砂糖が多ければ多いほど、甘くなる。The more sugar you pour into the milk, the sweeter it
> becomes.

# Adjectival Nouns (na adjectives)

> 俳優は有名ならば有名なほど、給料が高くなる。The more famous an actor is, the higher his salary
> becomes.

# Question

Now I want to apply this grammar to an adverb よく (often) or しばしば (often). The
sentence I want to say is

> A: The more often you wash clothes with bleach, the quicker its fabric
> becomes fragile.
>
> A: 服は、ブリーチで洗うのが頻繁ならば頻繁なほど、早く脆くなる。

Here I was forced to use adjectival noun 頻繁 rather than よく (often) or しばしば
(often)。

Is it possible to use this grammar with an adverb? If yes, how to apply it to
my sentence A above?




You cannot apply this grammar directly to an adverb because adverbs don't
conjugate to ば/れば. But you can repeat the verb itself.

>   * 牛乳は砂糖を多く入れれば入れるほど甘くなる。
>   * 俳優は有名であればあるほど給料が高くなる。
>   * 服はブリーチで頻繁に洗えば洗うほど早く脆くなる。
>   * 服はブリーチでよく洗えば洗うほど早く脆くなる。
>

But unlike English _often_ , しばしば doesn't work very well with this pattern
anyway, probably due to the same reason why "The more sometimes you wash
clothes ～" is not used in English.

* * *

By the way, your first sentence needs some improvement, too. First, 煩わしい means
_annoying_ rather than _noisy_. If 煩わしい is what you really mean to say, the
sentence needs ～ようにする ("try to ～") and "感じる ("feel"), because this sentence is
subjective and the speaker is failing to ignore him after all.

>   * 気にしないようにすればするほど、息子がもっと煩わしく感じる。  
>  The more I try to ignore my son, the more I am annoyed by him.
>   * 無視すればするほど、息子がもっとうるさくなる。  
>  The more I ignore my son, the more he becomes noisy.
>




You cannot apply this grammar directly to an adverb because adverbs don't
conjugate to ば/れば. But you can repeat the verb itself.

>   * 牛乳は砂糖を多く入れれば入れるほど甘くなる。
>   * 俳優は有名であればあるほど給料が高くなる。
>   * 服はブリーチで頻繁に洗えば洗うほど早く脆くなる。
>   * 服はブリーチでよく洗えば洗うほど早く脆くなる。
>

But unlike English _often_ , しばしば doesn't work very well with this pattern
anyway, probably due to the same reason why "The more sometimes you wash
clothes ～" is not used in English.

* * *

By the way, your first sentence needs some improvement, too. First, 煩わしい means
_annoying_ rather than _noisy_. If 煩わしい is what you really mean to say, the
sentence needs ～ようにする ("try to ～") and "感じる ("feel"), because this sentence is
subjective and the speaker is failing to ignore him after all.

>   * 気にしないようにすればするほど、息子がもっと煩わしく感じる。  
>  The more I try to ignore my son, the more I am annoyed by him.
>   * 無視すればするほど、息子がもっとうるさくなる。  
>  The more I ignore my son, the more he becomes noisy.
>

