is it correct grammar to say:
that someone is "cleverer" than you?
crisgal Sun 04/05/08 18:05
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'More clever' I would've thought.
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It is. However, it is also correct to say that someone is 'more clever' than you, and is probably easier to vocalise.
That said, the word 'smarter' is easier again...
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Question Author
oh poo. i thought cleverer was wrong on my son's homework. It certainly sounds wrong though doesn't it?
seems his teacher is indeed much more cleverer than me!
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more cleverer is definitely wrong lol!
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it's correct. It sounds better than 'more clever' to me, but that's just me.
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Question Author
I put "more cleverer" on purpose!
Thanks all. I shall try and use it today and enjoy correcting someone if they tell me it's incorrect. x
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More clever, but it isn't a clever thing to say.
:)
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There are very few basic English adjectives ending in -er. (Obviously, this does not include comparative adjectives such as bigger, slower, larger, tidier and so on of which there are multitudes.) The question as to what the comparative forms of these few should be is far from definite. That is, do we add another -er, as we do with most other basic adjectives or do we use ‘more'? Is A cleverer than B or more clever?
‘Cleverer' sounds perfectly OK, but what about bitterer, eagerer, kosherer, limberer and soberer? None of these sounds completely right to my ears, though ‘soberer' might just about pass muster. The other four, however, definitely seem to require the use of ‘more'.
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There's nothing wrong with 'cleverer', or the superlative form 'cleverest'. I agree with Quizmonster that the others he quotes do sound weird. Even 'soberer' sounds strange, though 'soberest' doesn't sound too bad. 'Bitterer' sounds wrong, but 'bitterest' is not so bad. As an aside, I would not think that 'kosher', like 'unique' and 'pregnant', can have a comparative or superlative. Things are either kosher or not.
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I did consider the possibly 'absolute' nature of 'kosher', Bert, but decided to use it anyway a) because I could think of so few -er adjectives and b) because the word has now taken on a wider meaning than the original concept of "in accordance with Jewish law".
One such colloquial meaning is 'correct' and there can certainly be 'degrees' of correctness in my view. But what the hey!
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should be more clever than I
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