less and the least with one syllable adjectives and adverbs

[Vladv1]

I wonder if it is possbile to use "less" and "the least" with one syllable regular adjectives and adverbs ? Is there some rule forbidding this?

 

[emsr2d2]

I wonder if it is possible to use "less" and "the least" with one-syllable regular adjectives and adverbs? Is there some rule forbidding this?

What makes you think that we can't? Please give us some example sentences.

 

[Vladv1]

What makes you think that we can't? Please give us some example sentences.

"We would benefit form a less big house" sounds not so good to me.

 

[Tarheel]

"We would benefit form a less big house" sounds not so good to me.

Use "smaller" there.

 

[Tarheel]

The writer uses "less" several times in the following poem.

***One Less***

I wonder what the world will be like without me,
And will I be forgotten by all and everybody?
There will be one less member of the human race,
One less person to take up space,
One less wrinkle in the fabric of time,
One less poet to make another rhyme,
One less person to breathe the air,
One less to complain about what isn't fair.
When we rid the world of one person do we eliminate one mistake,
And what difference anyhow does one person make?
#

 

[jutfrank]

"We would benefit form a less big house" sounds not so good to me.

Now I see the relation to your other question about using 'more'.

There's no rule forbidding it, no. But remember that you have to have a good reason not to follow the normal pattern. The fact that it sounds not so good to you is probably because you can't find a reason to do it. Think about it: Why would someone say 'less big' instead of 'smaller'?

 

[jutfrank]

The writer uses "less" several times in the following poem.

***One Less***

I wonder what the world will be like without me,
And will I be forgotten by all and everybody?
There will be one less member of the human race,
One less person to take up space,
One less wrinkle in the fabric of time,
One less poet to make another rhyme,
One less person to breathe the air,
One less to complain about what isn't fair.
When we rid the world of one person do we eliminate one mistake,
And what difference anyhow does one person make?

Um, at no point in that poem does the poet use the word 'less' before a one-syllable gradable adjective.

 

[Tarheel]

Um, at no point in that poem does the poet use the word 'less' before a one-syllable gradable adjective.

That is true. But the question about "less" seemed to the perfect excuse to post that.