英語の文法と語法の質問〜２

[richvh]

flammable hippo wrote:
Stupid is one of those adjectives that doesn't take the er ending. Even saying more stupid sounds ackward.

That is the stupidest thing I've read on this thread. Of course "stupid" is compared with "-er".

[flammable hippo]

richvh wrote:

flammable hippo wrote:
Stupid is one of those adjectives that doesn't take the er ending. Even saying more stupid sounds ackward.

That is the stupidest thing I've read on this thread. Of course "stupid" is compared with "-er".

My bad. When I saw it in the context of that rhyme I knew it was being used incorrectly and said the wrong thing. Saying "more stupider" as in "boys go to jupiter to get more stupider" is what was wrong with that verse.

[lalaith]

Infidel wrote:
However, even English speakers reguarly make mistakes here. I didn't know Handsome inflected, I would have sworn it only could be used "more handsome". This is why when in doubt use "more" or "most"

In general, 1 syllable inflect if you know it. 2 syllables you should probably inflect if you know it, but you can also probably use more/most if you can't remember. 3 syllables or more, few people will notice if you use more/most.

I was trying to figure this out for callipygian the other day. Was it callipygian - callipygianer - callipygianest or was it callipygian - more callipygian - most callipygian? Then it occurred to that most people don't know the word "callipygian" to begin with. If I went up to someone and said, "You're very callipygian," what I'd get in return would be a "What?" or a blank stare. So, if not many people know the word, they wouldn't notice if I got it wrong. After thinking about it I figured that callipygian - more callipygian - most callipygian was probably correct. As the dictionary doesn't list any comparatives for callipygian, I guess I was right. Nevertheless, I long to describe someone as "callipygianest," it's a word that would just roll off the tongue.

(Callipygian -- Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce are famous in the US for being callipygian. )

[Infidel]

One more thing.

is 'nan da tou' like a much more rougher way of saying what the f*** is that?

The big rule is don't mix forms. The English looks something like 新しいなです。because it mixes forms.

If I went up to someone and said, "You're very callipygian," what I'd get in return would be a "What?" or a blank stare.

More likely, they would nod and pretend they know what you meant and hope they can guess what you meant through context. :p

[Gundaetiapo]

I did a google search on "more happy" to see what kind of sentences come up.

We have more happy thoughts and quotes on happiness...

In this case you have the form "more <thing>". The word "happy" modifies "thoughts" and then the word "more" modifies the result. Something like this: more (happy thoughts). Not "(more happy) thoughts".

The large majority of the search results were of this first type.

I want to be more happy than what I am.

How to be a more happy, fun linuxquestions.org member

I was more happy being poor.

These were the ones I found that weren't of the form "more <thing>". Compared with

I want to be happier than what I am.

How to be a happier, funner linuxquestions.org member

I was happier being poor.

they carry the same meaning.

[marquis]

richvh wrote:
That is the stupidest thing I've read on this thread. Of course "stupid" is compared with "-er".

Wow. That sounded harsh.

In any case, I don't think in all of the time I have spoken english that I have used stupider. I won't say that use = existence of a word because there are plenty of words in english that exist that we don't use. However, I tend to use "more stupid" if I had to choose between the two, but most of the time, I just use an entirely different word in its place. Like "dumber" or just "worse".

[furin]

Infidel wrote:
I know the Longman is better for ESL study, but merriam-webster.com is great too because it has audio samples of nearly every word.

I know that site because you told me on the chatroom 6 months ago or so.
But to use the Longman's site, I can listen some short phrases and it's very helpful.

Most adjectives you can learn as you go. But there are some irregular adjectives. good > better> best. bad>worse>worst. and so on. These you need to memorize. Because making a mistake with an irregular verb really calls attention to itself.

I see. Thank you.

[coco]

これ、おもしろいので、こちらにピン止め。

two_heads_talking on June 06 2007 - 15:53:55
IMHO = IN MY HUMBLE OPINION.. IMNSHO = IN MY NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION.

質問じゃなくてすみません。

[richvh]

Also, IMO - In My Opinion, IMAO - In My Arrogant Opinion, and possibly a few other variations I'm not familiar with.

[miha]

質問３７．ひさびさに質問します。付加疑問文で、Iが主語のとき、

ーーーーー
Iをとる場合はbe動詞の語形に差がある。

イングランド: Clever, aren't I?
スコットランド: Clever, amn't I?
アメリカ: Clever, ain't I?

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BB%98% ... F%E6%96%87

には上記のように書いてありました。あっていますか？

皆さんの意見がききたいので、よろしくお願いします。

[richvh]

"Ain't" should be avoided (unless you are deliberately trying to sound low-class) regardless of country. The distinction between use of "aren't I" and "ain't I" is more one of class than country.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Agreed. Although "Clever, ain't I?" is common in the casual speech of certain dialects (particularly southern and Black English), but unfortunately it has a negative stereotype so many people do not use it.

[miha]

richｖｈさん、Yudanさんそれならわかります。ありがとう。"amn't I" はアメリカできいたことがありますか？それとも、間違いですか？

[Infidel]

Yudan Taiteki wrote:
Agreed. Although "Clever, ain't I?" is common in the casual speech of certain dialects (particularly southern and Black English), but unfortunately it has a negative stereotype so many people do not use it.

Bugs Bunny

[witega]

I don't believe 'amn't' is used in any North American dialect. Certainly none of the common ones.

'amn't' is a rather archaic form preserved in some Scottish and northern English dialects (which preserve many other conservative/archaic pronunciations). In Southern England it had progressed on to 'ain't' (am not->amn't->ain't) well before the colonial period and the spread of English around the globe.

As rich and Yudan have already pointed out, 'ain't' has been strongly rejected from the 'educated' dialects of both American and British English--'I'm not' or 'aren't' are used depending on sentence placement. It survives in 'lower-class' or 'uneducated' dialects. It's also a common 'mistake' for young kids. They see the obvious pattern of
He isn't
You aren't
I ain't
This occurs regardless of the dialect of the parents--but if the surrounding adults do speak an 'educated' dialect, they generally suppress the 'ain't' very quickly.