The other day I was having a conversation with my husband. I can’t remember the actual words or the subject of the conversation, but I said something like this:
‘It’s more nicer this way.’
Then he corrected me, ‘It’s nicer this way.’
Did you spot the mistake?
Today I’m sharing a common mistake that even native English speakers make. It’s the use of ‘more + adjective’ in sentences.
(As mentioned above, even I make this mistake in speaking. My husband seems to enjoy correcting me because I teach English.)
When you compare two things, you would usually use adjectives like taller, shorter, more interesting, most interesting. We call these comparative and superlative adjectives.
Did you know that you cannot use ‘most’ or ‘more’ with an adjective that has an -er or -est ending?
Here are some examples:
My feet are bigger than yours.
NOT …are more bigger
Science is easier than Mathematics.
NOT …is more easier
The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest building in the world for more than 3,800 years.
NOT …the most tallest
The largest living animal in the world is the blue whale.
NOT …the most largest
It’s quite a common mistake because we’re used to saying ‘more’ or ‘most’ for comparisons and we want to emphasise the adjective by adding -er or -est.
So while it’s okay to sometimes make this mistake in speaking, make sure you use it correctly in writing.
