12/12/2009
English Comparatives
Always a tangle with comparatives. We have great words with "er" and "est" in English, but we also have "more" and "most" and sometimes both can be used.
Just ran across one - my advisor marked my use of "likeliest" - said I should use "most likely." Obviously, both are acceptable, but I will do what he recommends without hesitation. And yet sometimes using "most" and "more" just sounds ignorant. Think of "more clear" vs. "clearer." Surely, "clearer" sounds better. I usually notice this during sermons, that's about the only time in my weekly schedule where a formal attention to grammar couples with speaking. And I always hear when preachers use a "more" or a "most" when a "er" or an "est" would sound better to me. But what sounds better to me is probably just a function of the books I read and not of some kind of standard.
Anyway, of course grammar changes and standards are stipulated, but this area of comparatives seems especially subjective.
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