看到“more happier”和“much happier”,想到了一个易搞错的语法点,很多人可能在表达比较级的时候,习惯性地在形容词前面加上“more”,尤其是在形容词以“er”结尾的情况下。但其实,英语中有一些固定的规则,形容词的比较级并不能简单地加“more”来修饰。今天,让我们一起看看为什么“more happier”是错误的,如何用“much happier”才是正确的表达吧!
首先,我们来看一下“more happier”为什么不对。英语中,形容词的比较级通常有两种形式:一种是直接在形容词后加“er”构成比较级,另一种是通过在形容词前加“more”来表示程度的加强。
比如,“happy”这个形容词,我们通常会加上“-er”构成比较级,变成“happier”。但“more happier”这个表达方式是错误的,因为“happier”已经是比较级,前面再加“more”是重复的。英语中,形容词比较级前面不能加“more”来修饰。
那么,正确的表达方式是什么呢?我们应该使用“much happier”来表示程度的加强。这里的“much”用来强调比较级的程度,表示“比以前幸福得多”。这种用法在英语中是完全正确的,并且非常常见。
来看几个正确使用“much happier”的例子:
Our life is much happier than ten years ago.(我们的生活比十年前幸福得多。)
She is much happier now that she has a new job.(她找到新工作后,现在更加幸福了。)
They are much happier since they moved to the countryside.(他们搬到乡下后,生活更幸福了。)
从这些例子中可以看出,“much happier”强调的是比原来更加幸福,表示程度的增强。和“more happier”不同,这样的表达完全符合语法规则。
“More”通常用于多音节形容词或副词的比较级。例如:
She is more beautiful than her sister.(她比她妹妹更美。)
The movie was more interesting than the book.(这部电影比书更有趣。)
The city is more expensive than the countryside.(这座城市比乡村贵。)
这些例子中,“more”用来修饰比较级,表示程度的加强。记住,形容词只有是多音节的,才可以使用“more”来构成比较级。
而“much”通常用于单音节形容词或已经有比较级形式的形容词,表示比较级的程度加强。例如:
This book is much better than the previous one.(这本书比之前那本好得多。)
He is much taller than his classmates.(他比他的同学高得多。)
The weather is much colder today than yesterday.(今天的天气比昨天冷得多。)
这些例子中,“much”被用来加强形容词的比较级,表示程度上的大幅度变化。尤其是当形容词已经有了比较级形式时,使用“much”更加自然。
除了“much happier”,我们还可以在其他很多形容词的比较级中使用“much”来表示程度的增强。
在英语中,我们常用比较级来表达年龄、数量等方面的比较。例如:
My sister is three years younger than me.(我妹妹比我小三岁。)
He has made a lot more mistakes than I have.(他比我犯的错误还要多。)
Cotton output was 50 per cent higher than in the previous year.(棉花产量比去年高百分之五十。)
The new method was over ten times more efficient than the traditional one.(新方法比传统方法效率提高十倍以上。)
在这些例子中,我们不仅可以看到比较级的应用,还能看到“more”和“much”如何用来强调数量或程度的差异。
在讨论社会问题时,比较级也经常用于表达差异。例如:
Women are paid much less than men doing the same kind of work.(女性做同样工作的报酬比男性少得多。)
Education in rural areas is much worse than in urban areas.(农村地区的教育水平比城市地区差得多。)
这些句子中,我们看到“much less”和“much worse”用来比较两个方面之间的差距,强调了差异的显著性。
Which sentence correctly uses the comparative form?
A. Our life is more happier than before.
B. Our life is much happier than before.
C. Our life is more happy than before.
She is ________ than she was last year.
A. much happier
B. more happier
C. more happy
我妹妹比我小三岁。
A. My sister is three years much younger than me.
B. My sister is much younger than me by three years.
C. My sister is three years younger than me.
1. B. Our life is much happier than before.
2. A. much happier
3. C. My sister is three years younger than me.