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August 6th, 2008 | #1 |
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The Comparative: More or -er?
"A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat." --P. J. O'Rourke
Good line, but marred by 'more stupid' as opposed to the correct 'stupider.' On the surface it might seem that using the technically incorrect 'more stupid' reinforces the sense of the quotation, 'stupider' is both the correct and it allows the emphasis to fall in the right place. In general, -er should be preferred to 'more.' Er usually sounds better and is almost always funnier. Few things are inherently as funny as comparatives made of the appended 'er.' |
August 6th, 2008 | #2 |
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Correct grammar, punctuation and even spelling are becoming a thing of the past.
Contrary to the liberal establishment's view, though, it IS important and it DOES matter, for it codifies and sets a standard for written communication, without which, there ensues confusion and ambiguity of meaning and intent. Without a common ground for understanding, communication of ideas becomes troublesome or even impossible. Having said all that though, I wouldn't go as far as Alex's nitpicking. Last edited by hengest; August 6th, 2008 at 08:58 PM. Reason: I made a spelling mistake. Twice! |
August 6th, 2008 | #3 |
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1. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.
2. Nothing looks stupider than a hat. I think this statement is a little stupid. I see no problem with hats. I think he needs to distract from the stupidity of the statement by using incorrect grammar. |
August 6th, 2008 | #4 |
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Yeah, but..."funner" or "more fun"? Younger people tend to use the former. I recall some rule that one-syllable words should have "more" attached for the comparative. Was I just half-asleep that day?
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August 6th, 2008 | #5 | |
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Quote:
Now, it is not nitpicking to say that the correct comparative for stupid is stupider, not more stupid. More stupid, I believe, I could be wrong, is technically incorrect. The correct form is: stupid, stupider, stupidest. You don't say, that is the most stupid thing i ever heard of, you say that is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Now, it is is possible that the O'Rourke quotation is a misquote - a very common thing. I have read pretty much everything O'Rourke ever wrote, but twenty years ago when he was at at his best. Last edited by Alex Linder; August 6th, 2008 at 09:20 PM. |
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August 6th, 2008 | #6 | |
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Quote:
I think he should have said not hats but baseball caps. |
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August 6th, 2008 | #7 |
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More fun is correct. Funner is absolutely incorrect. It has become common only in the last 15 years.
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August 6th, 2008 | #8 |
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I have a first rate browser that spell checks as I type. I try to spell correctly but occasionally I slip up on a certain word. The spell checker comes in handy and is built into the Firefox browser.
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August 6th, 2008 | #9 |
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We may just have to have a language subforum. Am thinking about this in relation to banning morons and thwopping illiterates who otherwise needn't be banned. Hmmm, me and Stritch "Rick" Swayze will put our heads together and come up with something.
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August 6th, 2008 | #10 |
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Another peeve of mine is the failure to use the hyphen. 'First rate' as an adjective is always hyphenated.
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August 6th, 2008 | #11 |
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Does anyone know what these ~ are for?
Or the difference between {[ and ( |
August 6th, 2008 | #12 | |
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Quote:
[ ] brackets. used for editorial comments, to distinguish the editor's words from the author's. of course, also used in math equations. also, if you have parenthetical material in something you're writing and need parentheses inside that, then that nested material is placed between brackets. so: (blah blah blah blah blah [blah blah blah] blah blah blah) |
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August 6th, 2008 | #14 |
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August 6th, 2008 | #15 |
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I was just checking Yahoo Answers, and there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on whether or not "stupider" is a legitimate word. It does sound awkward to me.
But I suppose that if one can say "dumber", it is not inconsistent to say "stupider". I favor policing obvious spelling errors and punctuation misconstructions more rigorously. But I question whether it would be wise to launch a full-scale grammar pogrom. That would be a bit "stormfrontish".
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August 6th, 2008 | #16 | |
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Quote:
Stupider is the correct word. Sometimes either way is correct, but certainly most stupid is wrong, therefore more stupid must be wrong too. |
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August 6th, 2008 | #17 |
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On the tilde (~):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilde Note that while it commonly means "approximately" in mathematics, it can also mean a negation in logic (~p = not p.) On brackets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket I won't even try to summarize this one. It gets pretty hairy, esp. in mathematical usage. I do know that usage of parentheses and brackets is different in American English and British English. In American English, you use parentheses first, then brackets inside the parentheses if needed ([]). In British English it's the opposite [()]. |
August 6th, 2008 | #18 |
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Copied from somewhere. I didn't note the site location.
Forming Comparative and Superlative Adjectives One-syllable adjectives. Form the comparative and superlative forms of a one-syllable adjective by adding –er for the comparative form and –est for the superlative. One-Syllable Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form tall taller tallest old older oldest long longer longest Mary is taller than Max. Mary is the tallest of all the students. Max is older than John. Of the three students, Max is the oldest. My hair is longer than your hair. Max's story is the longest story I've ever heard. If the one-syllable adjective ends with an e, just add –r for the comparative form and –st for the superlative form. One-Syllable Adjective with Final -e Comparative Form Superlative Form large larger largest wise wiser wisest Mary's car is larger than Max's car. Mary's house is the tallest of all the houses on the block. Max is wiser than his brother. Max is the wisest person I know. If the one-syllable adjective ends with a single consonant with a vowel before it, double the consonant and add –er for the comparative form; and double the consonant and add –est for the superlative form. One-Syllable Adjective Ending with a Single Consonant with a Single Vowel before It Comparative Form Superlative Form big bigger biggest thin thinner thinnest fat fatter fattest My dog is bigger than your dog. My dog is the biggest of all the dogs in the neighborhood. Max is thinner than John. Of all the students in the class, Max is the thinnest. My mother is fatter than your mother. Mary is the fattest person I've ever seen. Two-syllable adjectives. With most two-syllable adjectives, you form the comparative with more and the superlative with most. Two-Syllable Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form peaceful more peaceful most peaceful pleasant more pleasant most pleasant careful more careful most careful thoughtful more thoughtful most thoughtful This morning is more peaceful than yesterday morning. Max's house in the mountains is the most peaceful in the world. Max is more careful than Mike. Of all the taxi drivers, Jack is the most careful. Jill is more thoughtful than your sister. Mary is the most thoughtful person I've ever met. If the two-syllable adjectives ends with –y, change the y to i and add –er for the comparative form. For the superlative form change the y to i and add –est. Two-Syllable Adjective Ending with -y Comparative Form Superlative Form happy happier happiest angry angrier angriest busy busier busiest John is happier today than he was yesterday. John is the happiest boy in the world. Max is angrier than Mary. Of all of John's victims, Max is the angriest. Mary is busier than Max. Mary is the busiest person I've ever met. Two-syllable adjectives ending in –er, -le, or –ow take –er and –est to form the comparative and superlative forms. Two-Syllable Adjective Ending with -er, -le, or -ow Comparative Form Superlative Form narrow narrower narrowest gentle gentler gentlest The roads in this town are narrower than the roads in the city. This road is the narrowest of all the roads in California. Big dogs are gentler than small dogs. Of all the dogs in the world, English Mastiffs are the gentlest. Adjectives with three or more syllables. For adjectives with three syllables or more, you form the comparative with more and the superlative with most. Adjective with Three or More Syllables Comparative Form Superlative Form generous more generous most generous important more important most important intelligent more intelligent most intelligent John is more generous than Jack. John is the most generous of all the people I know. Health is more important than money. Of all the people I know, Max is the most important. Women are more intelligent than men. Mary is the most intelligent person I've ever met. Exceptions. Irregular adjectives. Irregular Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form good better best bad worse worst far farther farthest little less least many more most Italian food is better than American food. My dog is the best dog in the world. My mother's cooking is worse than your mother's cooking. Of all the students in the class, Max is the worst. Two-syllable adjectives that follow two rules. These adjectives can be used with -er and -est and with more and most. Two-Syllable Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form clever cleverer cleverest clever more clever most clever gentle gentler gentlest gentle more gentle most gentle friendly friendlier friendliest friendly more friendly most friendly quiet quieter quietest quiet more quiet most quiet simple simpler simplest simple more simple most simple Big dogs are gentler than small dogs. Of all the dogs in the world, English Mastiffs are the gentlest. Big dogs are more gentle than small dogs. Of all the dogs in the world, English Mastiffs are the most gentle |
August 6th, 2008 | #19 |
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I think it means the same thing in both instances, doesn't it? "Approximately" and "not quite equal to" are basically synonyms.
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August 6th, 2008 | #20 |
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In recent years there has been a move to use the more comparative, and away from -er. I fight that trend. In fact, I use -er even where more is correct. -er produces a comedic effect that can't be beat!
Dumb and Dumberer! Curiouser and curiouser. |
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