English grammar - Roger Berry 2012
C4.2 Examining the rules for comparison
C4 The comparison of adjectives
Section C Exploration
The ’rules’ for the comparison of adjectives in A4 - i.e. whether to use inflectional or phrasal forms - were rather vague and extensive at the same time. What happens in actual usage?
Martin Hilpert (2008) counted the occurrence of comparative forms in the British National Corpus (see the start of the C section for a description of this). He found a total of 245 adjectives which alternated between phrasal and inflectional comparison.
The table below shows selected results for some of the more noteworthy cases. It is organised in six groups:
□ one-syllable adjectives
□ two-syllables adjectives ending in -er
□ two-syllables adjectives ending in syllabic /l/
□ two-syllables adjectives ending in -ow
□ two- (and three-) syllable adjectives ending in a consonant + y
□ some other two-syllable adjectives that are often mentioned in reference grammars
Activity C4.2
As the table below shows, there are several cases which would appear to break the rules quite significantly. Identify the most significant exceptions and see if you can spot any tendencies in the groups.
Table C4.2.1 Frequencies of phrasal and inflectional comparison
Overall the rules that were stated in A4 seem to be quite useless. Rather than the length of adjectives (in terms of syllables) being the decisive factor, it seems in real life that there are a number of other factors which affect the choice between phrasal and inflectional comparison:
□ morphological relationships between adjectives
□ phonological features other than the number of syllables
□ postmodification
In addition, planning is obviously a factor in the use of more in places where it might not be expected: the idea of comparison may arise before an adjective has been selected (as in the one case of more big). And reduplication may also be an influence: more and more handsome rather than handsomer and handsomer.
Another plausible explanation offered by Hilpert is frequency: it seems that rare adjectives are more likely to form the comparative phrasally. This could explain apparently exceptional cases such as real, dead, yellow, and tender.
The fact that there are alternatives for 245 adjectives, not to mention the multiplicity of factors apparently at work, suggests that we should be cautious about presenting simple rules for this complicated area; we should rather be talking about tendencies. If some advice for learners is needed, we might say that they should not worry so much about ’mistakes’, and that if they are in doubt phrasal comparison is acceptable with most two-syllable adjectives.
Comments
Activity C4.1:
Most forms the superlative of adjectives on lines 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, and 13; on line 3 it forms the superlative of an adverb. On line 8 it is an intensifier (meaning ’extremely’) and on lines 1, 10 and 12 it is a determiner, meaning ’the majority of’. It has the same meaning on lines 5, 7 and 14, where it is a pronoun (with postmodification beginning with of). Finally, on line 15 it is an adverb.
Activity C4.2:
Comments are made according to the six groups.
1) one-syllable adjectives
There are two things to be said here. The first point to note is that dead and real have comparison with more rather than with -er. This contradicts the most basic rule about one-syllable adjectives.
But perhaps what is most surprising is that they have comparison at all. All three are supposedly non-gradable adjectives. You are either dead or alive, there is no in-between; ’deadness’ is absolute. And yet creative writers may tell us that someone was ’very dead’, and of course dead can have a metaphorical meaning: I’m feeling dead, and so presumably I’m feeling more dead than I ever have. Other supposedly non-gradable adjectives like perfect and unique often occur with comparison and intensifying adverbs. (See Activity A4.2 in A4.)
2) two-syllables adjectives ending in -er
There is a difference here between clever and slender on the one hand, and tender on the other. A possible reason for this is that, as suggested above, tender is less frequent than the other two and so is more likely to take phrasal comparison.
3) two-syllables adjectives ending in syllabic /l/
There is a big difference between subtle on the one hand and humble/simple on the other. There may be phonological influence here in that /bl-/ and /pl-/ are possible consonant clusters but /tl-/ is not.
4) two-syllables adjectives ending in -ow
Inflectional comparison is much more common here (though not significantly so for yellow)
5) two- (and three-) syllables adjectives ending in a consonant + y
There are startling differences here: easy and happy took inflectional comparison by a vast majority while likely was the reverse. Postmodification may be a factor with the latter, since it is so commonly part of an adjective phrase. Compare
We are more likely to . . . and We are likelier to . . .?
Which of these two sounds better?
The comparison of unhappy and unlikely is probably influenced by their unmarked counterparts. The occurrence of unhappier breaks the ’rule’ that three-syllable adjectives cannot take -er, influenced no doubt by the frequency of happier.
6) some other two-syllable adjectives. At least there is a clear conclusion here. In all of these cases phrasal comparison was more common (commoner?) than inflectional.