Winner or sinner :)

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

Hi

As I understand, ‘He is sinful’ = He is a sinner’, right?

So, sinner is a normal dictionary word, derivative from ‘sin’ + ‘er’, where the suffix has the same meaning as in ‘winner’ (and not as in ‘bigger’ ) :slight_smile:
And ‘sinful’ is an adjective.
That’s OK.

I just want to say that when I first met the - informally said - phrase (I don’t remember it exactly) like
‘He is more sinner than me.’, my first thought was that ‘sinner’ is a comparative. I don’t know, why :slight_smile:

Anyway, what comparative do you use in the case?
(To me, ‘more sinful’ would sound extremely strange…)

P.S. Or from the religious attitude the degree just doesn’t matter in this case? :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

2

Hi Tamara,

I would say: He is more of a sinner than I am or He is a greater sinner than I am or He has committed more sins than I have.

Just on the matter of sins, allow me to give a quick shot of Shakespeare:

King Lear: I am a man more sinned against than sinning.

A

3

Hi Alan

Thanks!

Hmm.
By the way, Alan, can I use the verb ‘sin’ this way: ‘He sinned his soul to [perdition, whatever…].’
?

4

Hi,

No, I don’t think you can. Bill might have got away with it but not the rest of us.

A