How often do we have to compare certain things, or people, or phenomena of the reality around us? It seems that we rarely resort to comparisons. In fact, it turns out that people constantly compare something with something, sometimes without noticing it. For example, a neighboring street may be wider, longer, and the house where friends live is larger, more comfortable, taller, more modern. A number of such comparisons can be continued indefinitely.
Everything is comparable
Everything that surrounds us has certain qualities, which means that it can be compared according to different criteria. The qualities of objects are denoted by adjectives, and the qualities of actions by adverbs. These parts of speech can be used in the form of comparative and superlative degrees of comparison. You can run fast and even faster, a dress can be expensive and even more expensive. In English, this grammatical phenomenon regulates the descriptive use of the more/most rule.
How to say in English that one car is expensive, the second is more expensive, and the third is the most expensive in the cabin? In this situation, the words more/most come in handy. They are necessary to form a form of comparative andsuperlatives for polysyllabic English adjectives, that is, those with two or more syllables: expensive, more expensive, the most expensive (expensive - more expensive - the most expensive).
When are comparative suffixes needed?
To understand the meaning of the words more, most, it is better to break the rule of their use into two parts. First, let's look at how the comparative degree is formed in English grammar, or, as linguists call it, the comparative.
Short, often monosyllabic, adjectives and adverbs form the comparative degree with the suffix -er: cheap/cheaper, hard/harder, large/larger, thin/thinner.
Some two-syllable adjectives, especially those ending in -y, also form a comparative with this suffix, for example: lucky/luckier, funny/funnier, easy/easier, and clever/clevere, simple/simpler.
Much or many for polysyllabic adjectives?
For longer adjectives and adverbs, the rules for using more come into play. The English use more (but not the suffix -er) when comparisons involve polysyllabic adjectives, for example: more modern, more expensive, more comfortable. The same applies to an adverb if it ends in -ly: more slowly, more seriously, more carefully. But every rule has exceptions that need to be learned by heart. English is spoken more often (but not oftener) and earlier (but not more early).
In general, the more/most regulatory rule for adjectives andadverbs in English grammar is not a difficult topic, it can be clearly illustrated by the example of the Russian language. For example, we say “faster/faster/more quickly/less quickly” or “expensive/more expensive/more expensive/less expensive”. In our language, the comparative degree can also be formed using suffixes or special words “more/less”.
The best or the best: how to say in English?
For the formation of superlatives more/most, the rule is to use the most with the obligatory definite article. As in the formation of a comparative degree, the word most is necessary for the formation of forms of polysyllabic adjectives: the most famous, the most difficult, the most boring. Short forms of adjectives and adverbs require the -est suffix: long/the longest, hot/the hottest, hard/the hardest.
Russian language similarly forms superlatives with the help of suffixes or the words “most/most/least”, for example: dear/most expensive, great/greatest/greatest, difficult/most difficult.
How to express the concept of “many” in English?
Some difficulty causes beginners to learn English defining the use of much / many rule. After all, if in Russian they say “a lot of pencils” and “a lot of bread”, then when translating these phrases into English, one has to make a difficult choice. Both much and many are translated into Russian in the same way: “many”. Which one to choose for translation?
In order not to make a mistake, you must remember aboutdivision of nouns into countable and uncountable. What word to use - much, many - the rule dictates unequivocally: the first, if we are talking about objects that can be counted, and the second, if it is impossible to count by the piece. So, you can count pencils and loaves of bread, but bread combined with “a lot” cannot be counted. The same can be said about water, flour, oil, earth and other similar concepts in the collective sense: a lot of water - much, a lot of bottles of water - many. Moreover, after many, the noun must be in the plural form. The same nouns that follow much are used only in the singular.
Another important condition restricts the use of much / many in the speech in the meaning of “many”. These words are mainly used in interrogative and negative sentences:
- Did you spend a lot of money?
- Do you have many friends?
- We didn't drink much water.
- They didn't eat many apples.
When translating these sentences into English, it is appropriate to use much or many.
It's different if you want to make a statement:
- We spent a lot of money.
- They drank a lot of water.
In this case, the English language expresses the concept of “a lot” in other words, moreover, it is the same for countable and uncountable nouns: a lot (of), lots (of), plenty (of).
It will help to learn the use of much/many (rule) table of examples.
| How much |
time money petrol beer wine |
have you got? |
| I haven't got much | wine | |
| How many |
cigarettes hours bottles of beer glassis of wine |
did he have? |
| He didn't have many | glassis of wine |
What to say if there are too many… rules?
Grammar rules are not created by people, they are created by the language itself. Grammar is not a set of instructions for negligent students, but the natural basis of the language. So if an English learner claims that there are too many rules, how do you translate it into English? This is where you need to look into a textbook or a grammar reference, where you will definitely find too many / too much expressions suitable for the situation.
The rule clarifies that much/many can also be used in affirmative sentences, but only in this combination with the word too in the meaning of “too”. If the speaker emphasizes that there is too much of something, then this is a sufficient condition for choosing these words:
- There are too many rules in English.
- Too much sugar was put in the tea.
When translating these sentences into English, we must remember that in the first noun “rules” is countable and plural. This means that only a combination of too many is possible. In the second, the noun “sugar”, uncountable, requires too much.
For beginners to learn English, the rules of English grammar seem very difficult and even insurmountable. It will take enough time for the laws and traditions of another language to no longer raise the question “Why are they so?”. Usually teachers respond to this with the phrase: “So they (native speakers) speak.” You just need to get used to speaking and thinking according to the laws of another language world.
