ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: is nosier than

Marius Hancu — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:14:24 GMT

The New York Times accepts both of them, but RayH is right:

66 from nytimes.com for "is more quiet"
9,200 from nytimes.com for "is quieter"

Re: is nosier than

RayH — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:58:11 GMT

Avangi
The city is noisy but the outskirts are lonely.

Agreed, I should have thought of that.

Avangi
The city is noisy but the village is quieter / more quiet.

I don't think you will hear many native speakers saying "more quiet" in this context or in any context for that matter.

Although, sadly, I have been hearing far too many people using the "more X" construction where it's not really appropriate (instead of "Xer"). I would appreciate any comments on this from the grammar experts out there.

Re: is nosier than

RayH — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:44:22 GMT

I'm pretty sure you mean "noisy" here.

(a) The city is noisy ~~nosier~~ but the village is quiet.

In (b) I'm not sure you would ever juxtapose noisy/lonely but I suppose you could. "countryside", I think, is the only choice that fits here.
So, (b) The city is noisy ~~nosier~~ but the countryside is lonely.

Re: is nosier than

Avangi — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:37:36 GMT

I don't think either one works. In making this sort of a comparison I believe the adjectives should be parallel. Noisier (check spelling) is a comparative. Quiet and lonely are not. Make them both one way or the other: The city is noisy, but the village is quiet. The city is noisy but the outskirts are lonely.

You'll probably hear native speakers use the two comparatives in casual conversation, but I don't think they should be used formally: The city is noisier but the village is quieter.

It would probably be correct to place the comparative in the second clause only: The city is noisy but the village is quieter / more quiet.

is nosier than

Vincent Teo — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:15:31 GMT

Can I say,

(a) The city is nosier but the village is quiet.

(b) The city is nosier but the countryside / outskirt is lonely.