I just read a Language Log post on the recurring debates about whether the “Xer” comparative form of various adjectives is correct, or whether one has to say “more X.” The post is in general quite worth reading, but here’s a particular passage that I was quite amused by:
Back in August 2005, Jon Lighter reported on ADS-L about Fox News anchor E. D. Hill, who maintained vehemently, on camera, that cleverer was not a word. Later she stated on air that a colleague had found it in a dictionary, so it was after all a word. But then (as Lighter wrote),
… in a surprising twist that left linguists in the viewing audience reeling, minutes before the show ended, Hill laughed as she said, “We’ve received an email from a viewer [name unintelligible] who has a doctorate, and she writes as follows : ” ‘Cleverer’ is not a word. It is not a verb and cannot be declined or inflected.’ ” Hill concluded, “So I was right all along ! It’s not a word ! “It is to weep.
By the way, Google Books makes it easier than ever before to get a sense of whether particular words — such as “cleverer” — were in fact used commonly (and not just occasionally) by great past authors, which is probably a pretty good proxy for whether they were commonly used in educated writing more broadly.
dcperson says:
cleverer and commoner just sound wrong to my ear…
but that’s not a rule of logic or grammar.
November 25, 2009, 4:04 pmTheBadness says:
While using “commoner” as a verb seems odd, I can’t hold that it’s definitively out (see, ‘funner’) for non-prescriptivists.
As to “cleverer,” it seems a deliberate colloquialism in most places I’ve seen it, but it certainly is a “word.”
In short, I concur with dcperson, the LanguageLog experts, Eugene, and Google.
November 25, 2009, 4:19 pmKent Scheidegger says:
“‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).” — Lewis Carroll
November 25, 2009, 4:24 pmyankee says:
Before reading this post, it would never have occurred to me to think there was anything the slightest bit odd about “cleverer.” As far as I’m concerned, it’s a completely ordinary word.
“Commoner” sounds a bit odd, but I would never say it’s not a “word.”
November 25, 2009, 4:42 pmTheBadness says:
Dur. “Commoner as a verb” : as an adjective.
November 25, 2009, 4:42 pmDavid McCourt says:
“Commoner” might confuse some with the noun, which may be why
November 25, 2009, 4:44 pm“more common” is more common, among aristos, commoners and commonists alike.
Phatty says:
So “simpler” “easier” and “scarier” are improper?
[EV: The quoted comment is from a commenter that had long been banned, but keeps trying to post in spite of that; my apologies to the rest of our commenters for the possible confusion caused by the deletion of the comment.]
November 25, 2009, 4:44 pmTexas Lawyer in DFW says:
Commoners the world over rejoice ;) Except for those who are cleverer than the rest.
Ok, enough silly wordplay, I’m off to go home for the holiday.
November 25, 2009, 4:50 pmDavid McCourt says:
“Only monosyllabic adjectives properly take the “-er” comparative suffix.”
It sounds like a reasonable rough guideline for new -er coinage, even with all the exceptions that exist for it. (Easier being one, although simpler sounds not like an exception). So: faster, yes; rapider, no — but speedier, yes anyway.
November 25, 2009, 5:09 pmDr. Weevil says:
The rule I tell my Latin students is that English adjectives of one syllable add ‘-er’ (‘-est’ for superlatives), those of three or more use ‘more’ or ‘most’), and those of two syllables can go either way, though sometimes one will sound better than the other.
This is not a rule I read anywhere, it just seems to be the way English works, and students have not come up with a counter-example yet. The point of telling them this is that in Latin you can add the comparative and superlative suffixes (-ior and -issimus) to any adjective, no matter how long. So English uses ‘most intelligent’ (not ‘intelligentest’) where Latin has no problem with a heptasyllabic intelligentissimus.
Am I wrong? Surely no native speaker would say “more flat” for “flatter” (even when the latter is also a verb), or “most big”, or “intelligenter”, or “harmoniousest” (ugh!), except as a joke. We so seem to avoid adding ‘-er’ or ‘-est’ to some particular endings, so no ‘viciouser’ or ‘pleasingest’. But ‘likelier’ and ‘more likely’, ‘happiest’ and ‘most happy’, ‘pleasanter’ and ‘more pleasant’ — I have only a very mild preference for one or the other in each case, and the ones I prefer seem only mildly more neat and respectabler (that’s a joke) than the others.
November 25, 2009, 5:14 pmDr. Weevil says:
By the way, “It is not a verb and cannot be declined or inflected” sounds idiotic. In Latin or Greek class, which are the main places you are likely to run across these words, nouns and adjectives are declined, verbs are conjugated, and both are inflected, since ‘inflection’ is the general term embracing the other two. Making comparatives and superlatives is not usually called declining, either.
November 25, 2009, 5:21 pmcorneille1640 says:
“cleverer” is indeed a verb, as in:
I always cleverer right after I arrive at work.
It can also be declined, too, as in:
I refuse to cleverer right after I arrive at work.
Sometimes, like all nouns in modern English, it can even be inflected:
Nominative: clevererix
Vocative: Oh, cleverere, how do I miss thee!
Genetive: clevereris, or simply, cleverer’s
Dative: clevereri (or, alternately, clevererae, although this usage is disputed by people with doctorates who email news networks)
Ablative: [nobody uses this inflection anymore]
Accusative: you stole the Thanksgiving turkey, Mr. Cleverer! Now pass me the cranberry sauce!
Unfortunately, I don’t have a PHD, so what do I know?
November 25, 2009, 5:31 pmDavid McCourt says:
I decline to be inflected by any of this.
November 25, 2009, 5:35 pmCrunchy Frog says:
If ‘cleverer’ is a word, what about ‘dumberer’?
November 25, 2009, 5:44 pmKevin says:
I wonder if “were in fact used commonly (and not just occasionally) by great past authors” is indeed a good method for judging the validity of a rule.
I think it might not be because being great, great writers may transcend grammatical rules in ways that mere mortals should not.
November 25, 2009, 5:52 pmreadery says:
Benjamin Franklin bemoaned the horrible usage of his day. Its amazing how many of his parade of horribles have become standard.
November 25, 2009, 6:38 pmLaura(southernxyl) says:
The real problem with “cleverer” is that written, it looks OK and you can tell what it is, but pronouncing it is going to be a bear. Either you say “cleverrrr” or “clever’er” or you’ll have to affect a southern accent of a kind I don’t have and say “cleverah”.
November 25, 2009, 6:51 pmPhatty says:
I was on the fence about cleverer being a word until Laura suggested pronouncing it with a southern accent. It rolls right off the tongue as “cleverah” and sounds like a word that might be used in the South (imagine it being said by Foghorn Leghorn).
November 25, 2009, 7:04 pmMalvolio says:
And I couldn’t be happier about having a simple rule like that.
November 25, 2009, 7:24 pmDavid McCourt says:
More happy, please.
November 25, 2009, 7:43 pmMalvolio says:
Motto!
November 25, 2009, 8:12 pmLeo Marvin says:
“Commoner” and “cleverer” are obviously acceptable. That they’re awkward is even obviouser.
November 25, 2009, 9:16 pmAaron Denney says:
Consider the monosyllabic adjective “numb”. I don’t think the comparative “number” is particularly clear, and I would greatly prefer “more numb”.
November 26, 2009, 6:32 amPensans says:
If we are to be democratic in our speech, looking up the usage of “great authors” is not a very interesting way of doing so.
Democracy aside, great authors are not great because they reflect common usage.
November 26, 2009, 7:11 amcbarker says:
A corpus would be a better place to look, to get a sense of how more than just great authors use the language.
I left my scary grammar book at school, but anyone that has this monster around could tell us the rule.
November 26, 2009, 8:55 amJC says:
I’m a native English speaker and I’m pretty sure I usually say “more flat”, at least when speaking aloud. It’s actually pretty common to say “more X” even if X is one syllable. And “commoner” and “cleverer” just sound awkward, so I would recommend avoiding them.
November 26, 2009, 11:45 amJon Rowe says:
Note to y’all: Don’t trust ED Hill as an authority on anything other than how to get a nice looking hair do.
November 26, 2009, 1:02 pmM says:
EV, I’m surprised you are not familiar with wordnik, which uses book search as you suggest, and is headed by former guest contributer Erin McKean. It is a fabulous internet dictionary. For cleverer.
November 29, 2009, 2:41 pmRobert Goodman says:
Columbia U. has the Cleverest Band. That’s what they call it.
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December 2, 2009, 9:37 pmJann Cubas says:
I enjoyed reading this post so much that I wished it was longer. Very engaging writing style!
September 4, 2010, 10:15 pm