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The form of an adjective or adverb used to compare two or more things. English comparatives are formed with the suffixes -er/-est or the words more/most.

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-You shouldn't try so hard. -Well, dunno how much not harder I could. The Mission/Beavis H. S3E9 Is this structure due to the lack of a clear antonym for (work) hard in this context?
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I have come to understand that with: Adverbs that have the same form as an adjective, for instance early, form the comparative and superlative degrees with ‑er and ‑est. In contrast, we use more or ...
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An online article from CNBC says: Gold enters correction territory as global investors stop worrying as much about China tensions, Fed independence, AI bubble. To me “as much” in the above sentence ...
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I was drafting an e-mail earlier today, in which I had to turn down a church gig due to a prior commitment. At the end, I wanted to express that I would want to work with this person in the future, ...
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A Shorter Course in English Grammar, by William Harvey Wells What does shorter refer to here? On other words, why does older merit its own lexicographic entry, but not shorter? Compare: OLDER (adj) ...
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I must tell you that this tool has far greater powers than is now apparent. OR I must tell you that this tool has far greater powers than are now apparent.
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With different sexes, only the post-modifying position is allowed. Compare: A happier woman than my mom A woman happier than my mom A man happier than my mom ✱A happier man than my mom Unfortunately, ...
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According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, wronger (comparative) is pronounced as /ˈrɔːŋər/, without restoring the /g/, unlike for example younger /ˈjʌŋɡər/, longest /ˈlɒŋɡəst)/, etc. Are ...
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What does the tree diagram of a comparative clause, for example the sentence below, look like? "A did more things than B did?"
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Xaviera did more things than it was expected that she do/did/does. Xaviera did more things than [it was expected (that she do/did/does)]. The round-bracketed content clause "(that she do/did/does)...
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This may be a duplicate, but I can't find it. In a non-comparative sentence, one says "I like cats very much" (I'm not sure if "very" can be omitted). To make it a comparative, one ...
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I've just come across these inflective forms of the adjective motley, instead of the expected motleyer/motleyest. In contrast, hackly (but Hackley). Is this a pronunciation spelling, or a regular ...
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Can someone please explain why the following construction is grammatical? Josh is taller than Mary is taller than Helen. I’ve come across this kind of phrasing before in all sorts of media (...
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We usually use "that" or "those" when we repeat the noun(s) used before especially in comparative sentences. But what about in this sentence? The intellectually inferior mice ...
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There is a grammar textbook that gives the following example. (a) It looked more like a cormorant than a heron. (b) It looked more like a cormorant than like a heron. The textbook says that (b) is ...
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I am having trouble following correctly this part of the book as to its logic it refers to. M'boy, if I felt any better, I'd have to send for the doctor... At first, it says under condition that if ...
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Reference : https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pithy Pithy adjective 1 : consisting of or abounding in pith 2 : having substance and point : tersely cogent Reference : https://www.merriam-...
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Although the following expressions may sound local or unnatural to some, these are examples of idiomatic expressions I hear in New York City. Does putting plural emphasis of a noun or comparative ...
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I have these sentences: "The unemployment rate was highest in the UK" "The unemployment rate was the highest in the UK" I would think the first one is correct. Is it true? Do we ...
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I've asked this question in Quora and the answers I got were: First answer: Using "more" and "less" helps maintain clarity and consistency in comparative forms. It provides a ...
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Which is correct: "spottier" or "more spotty"? For example: The poison dart frog was _________ than the glass frog.
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I am not a native English speaker but I usually feel comfortable speaking or writing in English. I also have a linguistic background. But this morning I finished a task, wiped it from my whiteboard, ...
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I wonder which of the following is/are correct? a. The national flag of Malaysia has more colours than Japan's. b. The national flag of Malaysia has more colours than Japan. c. Malaysia's national ...
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The question was to transform this sentence from positive to comparative degree: She is not so young as I expected. Following the solutions of other sentences of this kind (the photo shows a similar ...
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Flatter means to praise someone highly. But then how to express that something is more flat than something else? Well, some sources say the comparative form of flat is just "more flat", but ...
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As far as I was taught and read in various places (examples: 1, 2), some adjectives in English are not comparable, which is that they don't have comparative and superlative forms. Why is that? I think ...
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(1) It won't take at least 15 minutes to walk there. (2) It won't take more than 15 minutes to walk there. Am I right in thinking (2) sounds natural but (1) doesn't? If so, what is the reason for ...
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Here are two sentences from a grammar book: "He is the stronger of the two." "Reena is smarter than any other student of her class." In the first sentence, the definite article (...
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Is "I wanted to have written something more round" correct? Or do I have to use "rounder"? I think that I hear more people saying "This should be more round", than "...
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Which one is correct? Two thirds of the crop is destroyed. or: Two thirds of the crop are destroyed.
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Today I learned that the correct/recommended form of English, only a few centuries ago, required using "more" and "most" together with adjectives that were already in (respectively)...
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My theory is that dynamic verbs can take either more/most or better/best but the meaning will change. I sleep more than him. This means I sleep longer hours (quantity) than him. I sleep better than ...
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Recently, I have seen some people writing: 'Happiest birthday, John' What exactly does this mean? Happiest implies a comparison with something, but the phrase is usually used without any context that ...
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THIS IS NOT A DUPLICATE QUESTION. This question does not duplicate that question that is cited that this question is a duplicate of, as was already fully explored and explained in the body of this ...
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The task is 'Complete the sentences by changing the words in brackets into comparative adverbs'. The sentence is 'Julie's guests arrived slightly ... (early) than she expected'. Finally, the answer is ...
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For this sentence, which one is correct or more suitable, 'more' or 'better'; or are they both equally valid? Are there any nuances between them? I like baseball ______ than soccer. Please give a ...
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I have noticed that all the examples for "considerably" in Lexico (which is based on the OED, I believe?) are comparatives: considerably [adverb]: By a notably large amount or to a notably ...
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So in writing, I want to express various degrees of completion. Originally, I used "in a more complete implementation". A reviewer remarked that this was wrong, as complete is not gradable. ...
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What's the difference between "best" and "better" in these sentences: "You know me BEST as Ash Ketchum on Pokemon" "If you want to know me BETTER professionally, ask ...
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Should it be, "PT with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)is less effective than CT in treating anxiety" or, "PT with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is less ...
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Is sorry in the phrase “I’m sorry” an adverb or an adjective? In other, more practical words, is a comparative response to that, such as “Sure, but I’m even sorrier!”, considered grammatically correct?...
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I think these mean the same thing: (1) I know more about X than you do. (3) I know more than you do about X. In (1), the preposition phrase (PP) about X is part of the main clause, and the ...
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Which one is the correct way to say it? "War is and always remains one of the biggest human failures." or "War is and always remains one of the greatest human failures." Or are ...
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What does this "up by 6% over any previous year"? Since 2019, Clarksville-Montgomery County has added over 6,000 new jobs and, even with the decline in travel from the pandemic, in the last ...
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I've nevr come across such comparative pattern as in this sentence (it's taken out of an English text book): But Lucy and Sam are as forgetful as each other. What's the meaning of the structure? Is it ...
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I teach ESL. My job is to stop people saying "more big" instead of "bigger". "Fun", as noted on this site, is an exception, I think because the noun, meaning "...
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Good morning. I'd like to ask you something. I was confused about these words. They said " a bit, a little, slightly, a lot, and much" are all intensifiers in comparative sentences. But ...
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If I can say, "He is well," meaning, "He is in good health," how do I express that he's in better health, or that he's in the best health ever? "He's weller"? "He's ...
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In this sentence, the article 'the' precedes several comparative adjectives: 'deeper', 'bitter', 'greater', and 'stronger'. Now, for context, this sentence is the beginning of a text, and the ...
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I was reading the Comparative Construction Chapter from The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Pullum and Huddlestone. There on page 1109, I came across one sentence: He is more afraid of ...
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