I have known for a long time that many people in the UK have no idea how to make the comparative form of an adverb. How often have you heard people say that they "eat healthier" these days? Do they say, "I eat healthy"? No, they say, "I eat healthily". So they should be saying "I eat more healthily these days than I used to." It seems to me, though, that most people in the press and on TV or the radio can't manage that. Shame. My students would be marked down for writing and speaking like that in the exam.
Now, to add to the fact that a huge number of native speakers can't manage to form the comparative form of an adverb, they seem to be forgetting that there are two ways to make a comparative form of an adjective.
As you are probably aware, English started off as a Germanic language and then was heavily influenced by Latin and French after the Norman Conquest of 1066 (practically the only date that most British people will know).
Nearly all adjectives longer than one syllable use the French way of making a comparative (and superlative).
interesting - more interesting - the most interesting
difficult - more difficult - the most interesting
All adjectives of one syllable, two-syllable adjectives ending in -y and a handful of other two-syllable adjectives ending in -er, -le and -ow use the German way of forming comparatives and superlatives
hard - harder - the hardest
rare - rarer - the rarest
sunny - sunnier - the sunniest
lucky - luckier - the luckiest
narrow - narrower - the narrowest
simple - simpler - the simplest
clever - cleverer - the cleverest
But what have I been hearing on BBC Radio 4 these last few weeks? "More rare", "more strict", "more dear" and so on and so forth. I mean...WHAT?
So far, I've not heard 'more hard' and 'more fast' rather than harder and faster, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
In the meantime, my foreign students of English - from Germany, China, Ukraine, Spain, France etc. - they have to speak and write correct English. Oh, the irony.
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