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| happy - happier; but unhappy - unhappier or more unhappy? http://seas3.elte.hu/nyelveszforum/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=1229 |
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| Author: | Brain Storming [ 2010. September 18, Saturday, 11:31 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: happy - happier; but unhappy - unhappier or more unhappy |
I don't know - is it sure? Maybe googlefight isn't so exact in this case... I think the number of 'more uhappy' can come from the sum of 'more' and 'unhappy' and not from the phrase 'more unhappy'. The quoted site below shows forms of 'unhappier' and 'unhappiest' for 'unhappy' and doesn't write a single example for 'more unhappy' and 'the most unhappy'. I think the frequency of 'less unhappy' can mainly come from the one of 'happy'... Well, it's only a weak speculation, but I think that the 'un-' form of 'happy' doesn't make a three-syllable word in a native English speaker's mind... I mean, tradition and frequency can be a stronger effect than the rule for the more than two-syllable adjectives... |
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| Author: | vad [ 2010. September 18, Saturday, 9:28 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: happy - happier; but unhappy - unhappier or more unhappy |
According to googlefight more unhappy is slightly more pupular than unhappier and the most frequent form is less happy. |
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| Author: | Brain Storming [ 2010. September 18, Saturday, 0:41 ] |
| Post subject: | happy - happier; but unhappy - unhappier or more unhappy? |
I found an interesting phenomena - if I add 'un-' to 'happy' (or any other two-syllable adjective with '-y' ending), how is it "regular" to make a comparising form of it? With '-ier' - unhappier or with 'more' - more unhappy? Well, I found this: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unhappier So the one-syllable; two-syllable with -y; more than two-syllable rules of forming adjectives are like the one about e.g. get - got, forget - forgot? |
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