more - better

[dilodi83]

You may say the boy should have known............(more/better), but I do not think he was entirely to blame.

CAN I USE BOTH, MORE AND BETTER, WITHOUT ANY CHANGE IN MEANING? IF THERE WERE ANY CHANGES IN MEANING COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THEM?

Thanks so much.

[sunsunmoon]

know better

to be smart or sensible enough not to do something
▪ You walked home alone? Don't you know better (than that)? ▪ She'll know better than to trust them again. [=she will not trust them again] ▪ There's no excuse for his behavior. He's old enough to know better. ▪ Don't blame him. He's just a child and he doesn't know (any) better. [=he is too young, inexperienced, etc., to be expected to behave properly]

[TheParser]

You may say the boy should have known............(more/better), but I do not think he was entirely to blame.

CAN I USE BOTH, MORE AND BETTER, WITHOUT ANY CHANGE IN MEANING? IF THERE WERE ANY CHANGES IN MEANING COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THEM?

Thanks so much.

NOT A TEACHER


(1) Sunsunmoon has given us a really good explanation of "to

know better."

(2) I think that maybe (maybe!!!) the difference is that "better"

is an adverb that intensifies the power of the verb; "more" is a

noun (or pronoun?) that is the object of the verb.

(3) Let me give you a very sad but true example.

(4) Two British gentlemen recently visited an American city.

They decided to visit a certain part of that city. A 16-year-old

boy killed them.

(a) Sadly, they did not know better than to visit certain

parts of that city -- especially at night.

(b) If they had known more about the crime problems in that

city, they would probably have avoided that neighborhood.


Respectfully yours,


James