Expression "four times saltier than"?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,
Please have a look at this sentence:

The water in the Great Salt Lake is at least four times saltier than seawater.

=> I think it’s not a very good and native usage (instead it should be “four times as salty as”) Do you agree?

2

Are you saying that “saltier” is not idiomatic?

3

no, just because I was taught that usage is incorrect.

4

By whom?

5

Hi Nessie

I don’t see anything wrong or unusual with any of the following:

  • is four times bigger than
  • is four times longer than
  • is four times wider than
  • is four times better than
  • is four times heavier than
  • is four times wealthier than
  • is four times riskier than
  • is four times saltier than

Something like the following would be considered incorrect grammar and would also sound odd to me:

  • *is four times dangerouser than
    .
6

salty - (comparative saltier, superlative saltiest)
adjective

Microsoft® Encarta® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation.

7

:slight_smile:

8

:lol:
If Microsoft says it’s right, who could possibly argue. :lol:

9

Thanks a lot everybody :slight_smile:

Actually, I am taught (by my teachers here, of course) that “twice bigger than…” or “four times bigger than…” is incorrect. Instead we must say “twice as big as…” or “four times as big as…”

It’s not until now that I realized the formers are correct (+_+)

By the way, I just have 2 more queries:

1/ Is it the same in British English and American English?
2/ Do the two usages (“twice as big as” and “twice bigger than”) imply the same meaning?

Thank you very much once again :slight_smile:
Nessie.

10

We generally do not use “twice bigger than”, but you could possibly say “two times bigger than”.

You can say “twice as big as”.

As far as I know, it’s the same in British English.
.

11

My teacher taught me that “four times saltier than” was only used in spoken English. In formal written English, we have to use “four times as salty as” instead. I do not know if it is entirely correct but that’s how we are taught in Vietnam.

12

There are only these examples on “* times *ier than” in the BNC.

1 SEVERAL TIMES HEAVIER THAN 1
2 SEVEN TIMES HEAVIER THAN 1
3 27 TIMES FUNKIER THAN 1
4 200 TIMES HEAVIER THAN 1
5 1.4 TIMES HEAVIER THAN 1

#1 is from the prose-fiction register (written-spoken), #2 is from the social sciences (written), #3 and #4 from popular-lore (written-spoken), and #5 is from the natural sciences (written).

corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp

13

It’s so good you’re here to say this, Atomos :stuck_out_tongue: This problem occurs to me all me time: some of the things I am taught here in Vietnam may sound very strange to native speakers, yet we still have to obey those rules if we want to score and pass exams.
Thanks a lot, Atomos, for proving that I’ve not been lying all these times :smiley:

14

Hi Atomos

Was this supposed to be a specific “rule” exclusively for the word salty? :?
.

15

No, it’s the same for all adjectives and adverbs. I’ve just found a Vietnamese learning site that mentions “multiple number comparative”. As you can see, “as…as” must be used instead of “er, ier, more…”. I guess that’s just our country’s specific rule :).
…
Link: onthi.com/dien-dan/anh-van/n … 08785.html

16

Hi Atomos

Welcome to the forum. It’s good to have you here.

The thing that disturbs me a little about Nessie’s original sentence is the addition of ‘at least’. In this particular case, I would prefer the as … as form of comparison:

" … is at least four times as salty as …"
.

17

It’s an interesting question. Usually, “n times bigger than” seems to denote “n times as big as”. But perhaps the teachers’ thinking is as follows:

MrP