Dear All,
Could anyone tell me which is correct?
calmer OR more calm
To tell the truth I’ve already seen both ways, but if I think of my studies I just don’t understand why ‘more calm’ is also possible. It consists of just syllable, and I was taught that one syllable adjectives are formed with 'er (or -r) in the comparative.
Thank you for your reply.
Hi Liza
Basically, it is never wrong to use ‘more + adjective’. It is simply far more typical to form the comparative of one-syllable adjectives by adding -er to the end of the word.
I’d say that ‘calmer’ would be the more usual form by far. However, it depends a bit on the sentence construction. For example, if you want to use ‘calm’ and another one or two adjectives together, and both/all should be comparative, it makes sense to simply use ‘more’ like this:
“[color=blue]He was more cool, calm and collected than I was after the robbery.”
The sentence above is grammatically correct. The expression “cool, calm and collected” is also a fixed expression, so it tends to sound a bit awkward if you change the forms of the words:
“[color=red]He was cooler, calmer and more collected than I was after the robbery.” =>Although this sentence is also grammatically correct, it sounds more awkward to me than the first version.
In addition, if a one-syllable adjective is a word that isn’t often used comparatively, I’d say that people sometimes use more rather than the -er ending for the simple reason that the particular adjective sounds unusual with an -er ending. You will sometimes find this noted in dictionaries.
I think we have discussed this topic at least once already. Have you tried the forum’s search function?