A friend sent me this article from the Vancouver Sun, complaining that the comparative in English is dying. http://bit.ly/92tWKA
You know the comparative. In “big,” “bigger” and “biggest,” the word in the middle (“bigger”) is the comparative.
In general, the rule of thumb is that you make the comparative of a short word by adding “er.” If the word is long, you make the comparative by adding the word “more.”
So we have “softer,” not “more soft.” And we have “more expensive,” not “expensiver.”
The author of the article complains that, instead of using comparatives for short words, people are using the word “more.” Instead of saying something is “heavier,” people are saying it is “more heavy.” Instead of proclaiming something is “thinner” or “fatter,” people are saying it is “more thin” or “more fat.”
Technically the “more” construction is correct. But it’s my belief that whenever we use two words when one will do, we lose. Interestingly, this “move to more” is coming at a time when texting and tweets demand fewer and shorter words.
So maybe the comparative will win out after all. I hope.
You can find more articles about writing at my website: www.CommunicationsPlus.net.
A wonderful post, Kay. Now, here’s a mini rant that’s not related to the comparative at all.
What I’m particularly tweaked about is the increasing transformation of nouns into verbs. For example, “How will we language that?” Another one: ” The organization custodies all the data related to recent testing.”
Argh. I know that “custodies” works — and indeed, a couple of fellow writers told me I should relax and not protest the evolution of language, but hey, I don’t like verbing nouns, and I’m entitled!