the Comparative form of "fresh"

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

Today my English teacher wrote a sentence “The air is fresher and the roads are broadened.”

That “fresher” sounds quite strange to me and I looked it up in Longman Dictionary, only to find nothing related. Then, I searched “fresher” on Google and found it seems not the comparative form of “fresh”, while “more fresh” seems to be used widely.
Clearly, there’s only one syllable in “fresh”, though.

Which form is correct on earth?

2

“fresher” is the legitimate comparative of “fresh” on this planet, Takashiro-san. :slight_smile:

Also, “*more fresh” would be inferior in rhetoric for the sentence.

3

Hi Takashiro,

To repeat what our good friend Haihao has already said, ‘fresher’ is a perfectly good example of the comparative form of ‘fresh’. ‘More fresh’ is an oddity except if you wanted to make a point and emphasize the comparative construction. Let me give an example: I don’t like these sandwiches at all and I insist that the ones I usually buy are more fresh than these.
Another point I would like to make concerns your sentence:

Do you in fact mean: What on earth is the correct form?

Alan

4

Thanks a lot for your replies, Haihao and Alan.

Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant. Maybe I should have used “after all” instead of “on earth”, and thus Haihao wouldn’t have said “On this planet”.

By the way, as my English teacher emphasized, “also” can’t be put in front of a sentence. Nonetheless, Haihao said “Also, …”. I found many sentences begin with “also” as well. Is this an informal usage?

5

Good point, Takashiro. I think your English teacher was right about the usage of also. Let me share with you some other information.

6

Thanks for your explaination, Haihao-san.
As a matter of fact, my English teacher seems to make mistakes by accident at times, which causes the classmates to suspect her sometimes.

7

Takashiro San,

I would think any teacher could make mistakes, and nobody could possibly have a perfect command of a language. Famous linguists argue about a single preposition or article for life, as I know. That’s why I love language, as you do perhaps.

I would suggest the learners see the non-mistake part of the teacher, which should be more than 98%, I suppose, and make a full use of the good part. Teachers are helpers not players, like baseball.

I am not a teacher but I am sure you are very welcomed by the very qualified and experienced teachers on this site, who are ready to help you for your further progress in the language.

Regards,

8

Haihao-san,
I can’t agree more. Regardless of her mistakes, she is an excellent teacher, who would like to be our friends and admit her mistakes. She even told us she would make mistakes the first time we met.

9

Nice. BTW, I love Osaka.