English usage and grammar

417 readers

2 users here now

A community to discuss and ask questions about English usage and grammar.

If your post refers to a specific English variant, please indicate it within square brackets (for instance [Canadian]).

Online resources:

Cambridge English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus
Gilman's Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. This is a great and witty reference about usage, its history, and its controveries

Sibling communities:

!english_esl@lemmy.ml

Rules of conduct:

The usual ones on Lemmy and Mastodon.. In short: be kind or at least respectful, no offensive language, no harassment, no spam.

(Icon: entry "English" in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1933. Banner: page from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".)

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

pglpm@lemmy.ca

pglpm@mander.xyz

pglpm

"More fun" or "funnier"? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 2 years ago by pglpm@lemmy.ca to c/english@lemmy.ca

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What are the comparative and superlative of the adjective "fun"? I'd say "more fun" and "most fun"...

But I'm somehow slightly tempted by "funnier" and "funniest", which should be for "funny" though, not "fun"...

I didn't find anything about this in the main dictionaries.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Hanabie@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 years ago (3 children)

funny (the adjective) -> funnier

fun (the noun) -> more fun

[–] antony@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago

Which, by implication, means you can technically have "funnier fun" but not "more funnier" but should probably avoid both of these strange constructs.

[–] pglpm 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Thank you! I found and interesting note about "fun" (and also "funner", towards the end) in Gilman – I'm including a snapshot for the curious. "Funny" appears too :)

[–] Smatt@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

True. But people do say "funner" informally. "Darts are funner than bowling."

[–] Hanabie@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah, languages are living things. That makes them so much fun.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago

So are toddlers. Let's prevent both from wandering off into the woods.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

People say 'snuck', too. This is how languages go off the rails and acquire exceptions people complain about.

[–] Zeus@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

"fun" -> "funner" is less of an exception than "fun" -> "more fun"