thick v. thickness

[GoesStation]

This phrase, "like A better than B" is very new to me but something makes me think that better seems to me more. Does "like A better than B"="like A more than B" here? Is there any pattern as "like A more than B"? Was that completely wrong?

You can say I like A more than or better than B with no difference in meaning.

 

[hhtt21]

Again, I didn't write "I like brevity better there." I wrote "I like brevity better there."

Aren't these the two the same?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

No. In the second sentence, the word "brevity" is italicized. That means it is not grammatically part of the sentence; it's a word that the sentence says something about.

 

[GoesStation]

I feel compelled to add that italics are also used for emphasis. If I write "italics are used to emphasize important words", the italicized text is grammatically part of the sentence. It's up to the reader to determine which way the writer is using italics.

 

[hhtt21]

yes.

How could have I introduce a guess related to this topic if should was incorrect.

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

Would you please explain what does "I like brevity better there." The phrase should be "like better." Does it mean you like something but you like something else more?

How should I have [STRIKE]could have I[/STRIKE] introduced a guess related to this topic if should was incorrect?

I'm not sure what you were trying to say in the first quote. This may be it:

I don't understand your use of the phrase "like better". Would you please explain what "I like 'brevity'* better there" means? Does it mean you like something but you like something else more?​

*This gets back to the subject of italics and quotation marks. I chose to mark the word brevity by surrounding it in quotation marks. Because it was part of a quote which was already surrounded with double quotes, I used single quotes. You can also use a normal font to highlight text which is part of an italicized string. I could have written the following to use that option:

Would you please explain what "I like brevity better there" means?​

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