598: Comparative Adjectives Jul 28, 2016

Every language has a set of rules that are second-nature to native speakers, subconsciously followed, such as how in English no one would add an attributive adjective before a noun, since "the pencil yellow" makes little sense. When people are creating the comparative form of an adjectives, there are rules governing whether people say 'more...' or add an '-er' suffix. For one-syllable words, the convention is to add '-er', with exception to words that end in nasal sounds. For two-syllable words, people use 'more...' unless the word ends in a 'y', 'er', 'le' or ow', in which case the word would take a '-er'. For all three-syllable or longer words, people say 'more...". Of course, like everything in English there may be exceptions, but that is a fair rule of thumb.