[Grammar] comparative of well-educated

[jamshidibrahim]

I was asked: what is the comparative of well-educated? My answer was as follows:

1. well-educated, well-dressed are hyphenated adjectives from the adverb well referring to a participle adjective educated or dressed , should be taken as a unit therefore if you say (better educated) you break the unit. The better alternative would be (more experienced or talented) although I know these words do not necessarily have the same meaning, so it is a compromise. In my opinion there is no hyphenated (better-educated or better-dressed) and they do not sound natural.

2. There is a common mistake that all adjectives are gradable. In addition, lexical alternatives are not considered as way to make up for this grammar shortage.
I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I was asked: what is the comparative of well-educated? My answer was as follows:

1. well-educated and well-dressed are hyphenated adjectives from the adverb well, referring to a participle adjective like educated or dressed. It should be taken as a unit. Therefore if you say "better educated" you break the unit.Better alternatives would be "more experienced" or "more talented," although I know these words do not necessarily have the same meaning. So it is a compromise. In my opinion there is no hyphenated "better-educated" or "better-dressed," and they do not sound natural.

2. There is a common mistake that all adjectives are gradable. In addition, lexical alternatives are not considered as way to make up for this grammar shortage.
I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

"Better-educated" is natural, and it's grammatical for the same reasons as "well-educated."

 

[Tdol]

The Guardian used the hyphenated form in an article a few days ago. However, they used exactly the same phrase without the hyphen a few paragraphs later. I guess the jury's out for a definitive answer:

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...im-that-better-educated-voted-remain-pollster

 

[jamshidibrahim]

Thanks Richard. This confusion probably is due to the fact that there is no lexicalisation of a hyphenated better-educated.