Ontest Grammar Police say: Adjective comparative forms liken two or more things (nouns). There is a right way and there are many wrong ways to form these comparatives. They aren’t up for grabs; the rules are standard.

When writers, reporters, and editors in the media describe a political pundit as as more tall, more friendly, or more smart than another, my hackles rise. There are real rules, not options or guidelines, for forming comparatives, I browsed the The Chicago Manual of Style.

Listen up, journalists, bloggers, and anchors! Grammar Police say these are not options:

• If the adjective has one syllable, ends in e , like blue or cute, just tack on an r. (bluer, cuter)
• If the adjective has one syllable, one vowel, and ends in one consonant, like hot or fat, double the end consonant and add er. (hotter, fatter)
• Adjective has multiple vowels within the word or multiple consonants at the end, but one syllable, add er. (brighter, cleaner, brisker)
• Adjective with two syllables ends in y like crappy, jazzy, or dumpy, change the y to i and smack on an er. (crappier, jazzier)
• Adjective with two or more syllables does not end in y - here it is! NOW you precede the adjective with more but you never add an ending to the word. (more meaningful, more compelling, but never more beautifuller.)

Superlatives, like jazziest or bluest are formed by the same rules, says the University of Victoria in Canada.

Someone theorized that the trend of pairing every comparative with more came from journalists being paid by the word…hmmmm. Paycheck notwithstanding, I’d rather hear more ers and fewer mores on the nightly news.

And Dr. Phil? You could use these rules, too.

What do you think when you hear these inane comparatives with more stuck on the front of a word?  Talk to me.

More Grammar Police resources:

Future Conditional

Passive Voice

Matching Verbs and Nouns

Grammar Day Web Resources:

National Grammar Day

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips

Purdue OWL online writing lab

WebGrammar.com

OnText Grammar Police Grammar Day  resources

Future Conditional

Passive Voice

Matching Verbs and Nouns

Happy grammar day.

Before I became an Editorial Consultant, I worked at Simon & Schuster where I saw firsthand most writers haven’t a clue what editors want. You

writer as super hero...

only get one chance to make a good first impression–here are three ways to ensure yours is outstanding.

1. Go Back to School

Which of the following is more likely to impress editors?

• “I have a Creative Writing MFA.”
• “I’ve read tons of books about how to write.”

Those who chose B need a reality check. While an MFA isn’t mandatory, it helps to have actually studied the craft of writing—to a degree. Motivational speakers who want to publish a book to score bigger, better speaking gigs aren’t expected to be James Joyce, but a basic writing class is in order. Romance novelists would benefit from taking several fiction writing classes. Aspirants to the literary canon had best attend a top-notch creative writing program.

2. Go to a Bookstore

Walk to the section of the store where your book would be shelved and take a long, hard look. Every book in that category is competition for your book. Wrote an astrology book? All the astrology books on the shelf are competition. Writing the Great American Novel? Each novel in the Fiction area is competition.

When editors are assessing your book idea, they will invariably ask: “How will this book stand out?” Impress them with a good answer. Don’t have one? You’re not ready to submit your work to editors

3. Go to Your Desk

Consider this scenario:

You: “What do you think of my book idea?”

Editor: “Sounds great! Send me the manuscript.”

You: “Um, I haven’t finished it yet . . .”

Think editors are impressed by unprepared writers? Think again.

Sit at your desk, or wherever you write, and finish your manuscript for fiction or narrative nonfiction like memoirs. For straight nonfiction, such as self-help guides, you don’t have to write the whole manuscript; instead, you need a polished proposal. To learn how to write one, visit:

Marcela Landres Book Proposal Basics

Copyright © 2010 Marcela Landres

Marcela Landres is the author of the e-book How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You, the publisher of the award-winning e-zine Latinidad, and an editorial consultant who helps writers get published by editing their work and educating them on the business side of publishing. For more information, visit MarcelaLandres.com.