“ … my teacher says 'we can only use more polite than'"
~ 你的老師是錯, polite 的 comparative form 有兩種寫法
嚴格來說, 應該是 polite – politer (comparative) – politest (superlative)
如果有懷疑, 最好不過是參考字典
“more polite” sounds better than “politer”, 尤其美國人, 普羅大眾多用. 因此被接受, 牛津字典已經列 “more polite are most polite are also common”, 始終 politer, politest 是傳統的寫法. 特別是英國字典
不是 2 syllables 的 adjectives 可以用 more + adjective, 要看什麼字
例如:
strong – stronger, 沒有 more strong than ….
tidy, tidier, 沒有 more tidy than ….
相反地,
awful, more awful, 沒有 awfuler than ...
afraid, more afraid.沒有 afraider than .
類似 polite 有兩種 comparative form 的字, 還有 clever, stupid, common, subtle, … etc
3 syllables 的 adjectives 多是用 more + adjective
difficult – more difficult
beautiful – more beautiful
但是:
stable – stabler, also “more stable”
unhappy – unhappier