the more common

Question

1. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be the more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

2. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

Which of the above sentences is correct?

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Number 2.

Clive

Teo · Answer

Teo1. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be the more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

2. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

Which of the above sentences is correct?

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Number 1 is quoted from A Grammar of Contemporary English, by Quirk et al. (page 841).

Clive · Answer

Hi,

1. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be the more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

2. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

Here's how I see it. Let's look at simpler examples.

In a room, 5 people are wearing black and 3 are wearing white.

A. Of the two colours in the room, black is the more common. To make your sentence 1 like this, I suggest that you'd have to reword it into something like 'Of the ways help is used in these two forms of English, ...' What I'm trying to say is that you can't say ... the more common .... than ...

B. Black is more common in the room than white. Your sentence 2 is the same form as this. You can say ... more common ... than ....

I'm not 100% sure my examples are the exact equivalent of your sentences, but I feel my point is valid.

Best wishes, Clive

Pinenut · Answer

CliveHi,

1. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be the more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

2. HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

Here's how I see it. Let's look at simpler examples.

In a room, 5 people are wearing black and 3 are wearing white.

A. Of the two colours in the room, black is the more common. To make your sentence 1 like this, I suggest that you'd have to reword it into something like 'Of the ways help is used in these two forms of English, ...' What I'm trying to say is that you can't say ... the more common .... than ...

B. Black is more common in the room than white. Your sentence 2 is the same form as this. You can say ... more common ... than ....

I'm not 100% sure my examples are the exact equivalent of your sentences, but I feel my point is valid.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive,

If I am allowed to add a bit here, I would say that 'the more common' has an implied meaning of 'the more common of the two (things that have been or are mentioned).

pine

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Yes, I agree. I think the point is that the two things have to be clearly mentioned and, to my mind, in 'sentence 1' this was not clearly done.

The two things in question are the two variants of the infinitive. The meaning is even more clouded by the mention of two other things, namely AmE and BrE.

Clive

Teo · Answer

TeoHELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be the more common in AmE than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

I think it would be much clearer to use rather than instead of than.

HELP also takes the to-infinitive. The bare infinitive seems to be the more common (of the two) in AmE rather than in BrE, but in both varieties the choice is conditioned by the subject's involvement.

MrPedantic · Answer

I'm inclined to agree with Clive here. The writer of #1 has tried (unsuccessfully) to combine two thoughts:

1. The bare infinitive is the more common of the two forms in AmE.

2. The bare infinitive is more common in AmE than in BrE.

It isn't unusual for grammarians and linguisticians to write ungrammatical or inelegant English.

MrP

Clive · Answer

Hi,

It isn't unusual for grammarians and linguisticians to write ungrammatical or inelegant English.

Except for them on this Forum, who always rite perfect.

Clive

Paco2004 · Answer

CliveIt isn't unusual for grammarians and linguisticians to write ungrammatical or inelegant English.
Except for them on this Forum, who always rite perfect.

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