[Grammar] comparative

[Meja]

Hello, Teacher!

Which way of making comparative is correct, or preferable if both ways are possible, for these adjectives:
friendly, lonely, common, quiet, shy, simple, crazy?

 

[Rover_KE]

Click here for a useful tutorial, then make your own effort for us to check.

 

[Meja]

Click here for a useful tutorial, then make your own effort for us to check.

Hello Rover_KE,

I read that tutorial, but it was not very helpful.
They used the adjective "clever" as an example of adjectives which make their comparative and superlative forms by adding -er and -est. However, I saw in other grammar books that it can also take more and most to form its comparative and superlative.

I know the basic rules, but a number of disyllabic words are a bit complicated for me:/, and grammar books do not always help since they offer different rules(for instance, obscure is in one grammar treated as an adjective which takes more and most and in another as an adjective which takes inflected forms). Because of that, I wanted native speakers' opinion.

And since you wanted my effort, these are the forms which I usually use:
friendlier or more friendly- I use both equally, more lonely, more common, more quiet, shyer, simpler, crazier, narrower, more obscure, more polite, more clever.
For all these adjectives I have read somewhere that both possibilities are acceptable and I would like to know if native speakers agree with that.

 

[emsr2d2]

The only one in your list I would have a problem with if you added the comparative suffix -er, is "common". Despite the adjective having only two syllables, "commoner" is unnatural. I would expect "more common".

 

[MikeNewYork]

You took the words right out of my computer. :-D

I would include "obscure".

 

[Meja]

You mean that you would include "obscure" along with "common" not making a comparative form by adding the suffix -er?
Thanks for the reply

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes. I would use "more obscure".

 

[Meja]

What about "funny,"
are both ways possible here, too?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, but I prefer "funnier". You will find no universal rules in this area. Individuals have preferences.

 

[Meja]

Well, I see that. That's why I hoped to be told native speakers' preferences. Thanks for all the answers.

 

[MikeNewYork]

No problem.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Obscure" wasn't listed in post #1. Had it been, I would have added it to "common" as requiring "more", not "-er".

 

[Meja]

Since we have established that both more shy and shyer are possible, I would also like to know if the spelling "shier" is common and generally perceived as correct? Only one of several dictionaries which I checked accepts both spellings.

 

[Rover_KE]

They are both correct. Click here and you will see that 'shyer' is slightly more common.

Seven dictionaries here accept both spellings. (Bookmark the OneLook site for future reference.)

 

[Meja]

Thank you!
This made me check the adjective "dry".
It seems that both dryer and drier are correct, too.
According to this diagram, the former is even more common today, though it has never been accepted as correct during my education and only in Collins dictionary that spelling is accepted (out of four in which I've looked it up).

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Meja:

If it is at all possible, I suggest that you read about comparatives in a book entitled The Grammar Book / An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course by Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman.

I assume that you can find a copy at any good library. It will give you an in-depth explanation about comparatives.

They said something that I have never forgotten: " tudents should understand that the basic form of the comparative is more and the -er forms are surface lexical manifestations of more + adj[ective]."

They then give this very good advice (in my opinion):

"A good rule of thumb for nonnative speakers is the following: when the adjective has two or more syllables and you are in doubt, use more; the worst mistake you will make is a register error."

Finally, I will leave you with one of their examples: "Benjamin Franklin was both smarter and loyaler than ...." The two scholars comment:

1. The decision to use more or -er is very complicated.
2. The rules seem to indicate that the writer should have written "more loyal."
3. Maybe, however, the writer wanted to use the -er form because it would be parallel with smarter.

 

[emsr2d2]

With regard to "dry", you will see "drier" to mean "more dry" but "dryer" for things like the kitchen appliance that dries your clothes.

The weather today is drier than it has been in weeks.
I will put my clothes in the tumble dryer later.

I realise the latter is not a comparative, of course. It was just to give you the idea that you will see both spellings. I'm sure some people use "dryer" to mean "more dry".

 

[Meja]

Hello, TheParser,

Thanks for this detailed answer. : )
I've found the grammar book you mentioned and I'll read the chapters about comparatives. It's always useful to know a good rule of thumb to rely on it when being in doubt.

emsr2d2,
I am familiar with the word "dryer" as a noun, but I have never seen it as an adjective so far. Thinking about a dryer, it is logical not to insist on a vowel change for the adjective, too.