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Lcchang Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Comparatives

1font00Friendly02font00 and 01font00Costly02font00 are two-syllable words. When using comparatives with them, should I change them to 01font00friendlier, costlier02font00 or 01font00more friendly, more costly02font00? I think the later sounds more natural but the former follows the rule. Please advise.02br
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00LCChang0-
  

Top answer

0 01blockquote 01cite 10Lcchang12cite 11font 10Friendly12font 10 and 11font 10Costly12font 10 are two-syllable words. When using comparatives with them, should I change them to 11font 10friendlier, costlier12font 10 or 11font 10more friendly, more costly12font 10? I think the later sounds more natural but the former follows the rule.

— Yoong Liat

  • 0 01blockquote 01cite 10Lcchang12cite 11font 10Friendly12font 10 and 11font 10Costly12font 10 are two-syllable words.
  • When using comparatives with them, should I change them to 11font 10friendlier, costlier12font 10 or 11font 10more friendly, more costly12font 10?
  • I think the later sounds more natural but the former follows the rule.
  • 12br 12br 10LCChang12br 12blockquote 10IMO, when you have a comparative for a word you should use it.
  • For example, he is cleverer (rather than he is more clever).
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6 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Lcchang12cite11font10Friendly12font10 and 11font10Costly12font10 are two-syllable words. When using comparatives with them, should I change them to 11font10friendlier, costlier12font10 or 11font
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*71*0 01p

00Both 01i00friendly02i00 and 01i00costly02i00 are 01b00adjectives02b00 and the -er and -est endings would be most commonly used to create the comparative forms. I'd say that 01i00more02i00 and 01i00most02i00 are also used sometimes.02p

01p

00Ho

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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite10Both 11i10friendly12i10 and 11i10costly12i10 are 11b10adjectives12b10 and the -er and -est endings would be most commonly used to create the comparative forms. I'd say that 11i10more12i10 and 11i10most12i
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Dude, just look it up!
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I think the rule you mentioned is related to forming the comparative with either -er or more ***, depending on the number of sylables in the adjective.
The rule is 3 syllables and sometimes 2

Beautiful ---> more beautiful (never beautifuller)
sympathetic ---> more sympathetic (never sympatheticer)
Some 2 syllable words do not form a comparitive with -er
gorgeous
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I know that we shouldn't always listen to Word's auto-correct, but it really doesn't matter apparently. If you type "more costly" into Word's grammar check, it suggests costlier. When you type "costlier", it suggests "more costly". So apparently you can use either.

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