Okay, I try not to get on my soapbox too often. I'm not actually the grammar police. But I have to say something about this. Lately, for no apparent reason, English-speaking people seem to have forgotten that our language actually has two ways of creating comparative (and superlative) forms. You create a comparative by adding "-er" or put "more" before the word. Here's the problem:
you don't get to just pick whichever way you feel like doing it. There is a correct form, and
there is an incorrect form! There's a veritable epidemic of otherwise intelligent people — particularly on broadcast news shows — using the "more" form for everything.
It is
not EVER- more happy
- more easy
- more cool
- more old
- more tall.
And by the same token, it's never
- moderner
- effectiver
- beautifuler
- expensiver
- intelligenter.
The rule of thumb is that one-syllable words, and two-syllable words that end with 'y,' use "-er." Other two-syllable words, and words of three syllables or longer, get "more." Got that?
And while we're at it, keep your quotation marks on the outside of your punctuation. For heaven's sake, it makes you look Canadian!
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