Stronger vs more strongly etc.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hello,
Sometimes I'm not sure about adverbs.
Things like You must drive more carefully. are clear in my opinion.
One time I wanted to write We must play more strongly while playing an online game but I did not do it because I thought the others will laugh.
I thought that cannot be true and I really thought We must play stronger would be right.
As far as I know there are some special words like sound, look and so on.
It looks nice, it sounds good.
I was not sure about play, but it would be illogical if it's one of the exception words.

Okay, thanks again for any help and sorry if my questions are too stupid :oops:

Greets
 

opa6x57

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I'm not a teacher...

According to this article - which I read just to refresh my memory...Learning English | BBC World Service

Usually - if the adjective is a single syllable, then adding -er, -est is proper. So - strong, stronger, strongest.


Have a look at the web-article.
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hi and thanks for your reply.
I quickly looked into this article.

Okay, but in my case the word strong is an adverb which describes play.
So I'm still not sure, but I really thing We must play more strongly should be the right form.
Maybe someone can solve this question^^

Greets
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
Hi and thanks for your reply.
I quickly looked into this article.

Okay, but in my case the word strong is an adverb which describes play.
So I'm still not sure, but I really thing We must play more strongly should be the right form.
Maybe someone can solve this question^^

Greets

Do you think that 'strong' is the best word to use in this situation? Perhaps 'forcefully' would be better. Just a suggestion.:)
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You can play stronger (or "more strongly" although that seems a bit weird), but it might be better to play better.

;-)
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
@bhaisahab:
You're right, strong is not the best description for play.

@RonBee:
Hmm but does this mean play is one of the exceptions?
Because you wrote play stronger would be okay.
Does this mean I can write He plays worse instead of He plays more badly?

And thanks for your replies!

Greets
 

RonBee

Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
In my humble opinion, "He plays worse" is definitely better than "He plays more badly". (Ugh!)

:)
 

opa6x57

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Okay, but in my case the word strong is an adverb which describes play.
So I'm still not sure, but I really thing We must play more strongly should be the right form.

You are so right. I'm sorry.

This article is probably more appropriate, then: Adjectives Versus Adverbs: Three Degrees of Separation — Infoplease.com

Since 'strongly' is an adverb describing play, the proper form would be 'play more strongly.'

However, I agree with other/previous posts, this doesn't sound natural to me.

I think I'd choose one of these:
"We need to play better."
"We need to play more aggressively."
"We need to play with more speed and agility."
Of these, 'more aggressively' probably comes closest to the meaning of your orignial post.

Of course, if it were my son-in-law, he'd probably say, "C'mon guys, let's get these suckers - let's pound them ... are you with me???"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top