Double Comparative in English Grammar

The double comparative is the use of both more (or less) and the suffix -er to indicate the comparative form of an adjective or adverb. In present-day standard English, double comparatives (such as more easier) are almost universally regarded as usage errors, though the construction is still heard in certain dialects. Examples Some-a people think Im more dumber than them because I dont talk so good, but they only know one language and me--I speak-a two. (Marjorie Bartholomew Paradis, Mr. De Lucas Horse, 1962)I was more tireder than ever Id been in my life, wore down beyond weariness. (Ron Rash, One Foot in Eden. Macmillan, 2004)But the only thing I got to tell you, if you take a dog and kick him around hes got to be alert, hes got to be more sharper than you. Well, weve been kicked around for two thousand years. Were not more smarter, were more alert. (Mordecai Richler, Barneys Version. Chatto Windus, 1997)Repose you there; while I to this hard house—More harder than the stones whereof tis raised. (Kent to King Lear in Act Three, scene 2, of King Lear by William Shakespeare) The Taboo Against This Belt-and-Suspenders Usage Double comparison is taboo in Standard English except for fun: Your cooking is more tastier than my mothers. I can see more better with my new glasses. These illustrate the classic double comparative, with the periphrastic more or most used to intensify an adjective or adverb already inflected for the comparative or superlative. A belt-and-suspenders usage, this is a once-Standard but now unacceptable construction (like the double negative) that illustrates yet again our penchant for hyperbole. Shakespeare (the most unkindest cut of all) and other Renaissance writers used double comparison to add vigor, enthusiasm, and emphasis, and so do young children and other unwary speakers of Nonstandard English today. (Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press, 1993) The Double Comparative in Early Modern English As was true in earlier times also, a good many instances of double comparisons like more fitter, more better, more fairer, most worst, most stillest, and (probably the best-known example) most unkindest occur in early Modern English. The general rule was that comparison could be made with the ending or with the modifying word or, for emphasis, both. (Thomas Pyles and John Algeo, The Origins and Development of the English Language. Harcourt, 1982) More and most were historically not comparative markers, but intensifiers (as they still are in such expressions as a most enjoyable evening). In EMnE [Early Modern English], this intensifying function was felt much more strongly; hence writers did not find it ungrammatical or pleonastic to use both a comparative adverb and -er or -est with the same adjective. Examples from Shakespeare include in the calmest and most stillest night and against the envy of less happier lands. (C.M. Millward, A Biography of the English Language, 2nd ed. Harcourt Brace, 1996) More Doubles in English Grammar Double NegativeDouble Superlative

Development And Evaluation Of Cognition Based Interventions

PhD upgrade overview In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the development and evaluation of cognition-based interventions (CBIs) for people with dementia in improving cognition, and quality of life (QoL). However, little is known about the effects of these interventions for carers who are actively involved and participate in CBIs alongside their relative. In addition, it has been argued that engaging family carers in the therapeutic process is important as it has the potential to improve mutual understanding and enhance carer well-being. My PhD research aims to evaluate the effects of carer involvement in CBIs for people with dementia on carer well-being. This report presents the progress my research which comprises†¦show more content†¦Chapter five describes a qualitative study which I conducted to explore the experiences and perspectives of people with dementia and their carers while taking part in the iCST intervention. Chapter six reports on my personal development and achievements and my PhD progress since my starting date which was the 29th January 2013. Advancing age remains the single most important risk factor for developing dementia (Luengo-Fernandex, Leal, Gray 2010). It is estimated that there are currently over 46 million people living with dementia worldwide (World Alzheimer Report 2015), with a total of 835,000 people living with dementia in the UK alone (Alzheimer s Society, 2014). Dementia is a major cause of disability for older people (WHO, Dementia - A Public Health Priority 2012). Dementia also remains a greatest challenge for the society and has a huge economic impact on the health care system, people with dementia and their families (Dowrick 2014). Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for up to 60% of all cases (Burns et al., 2006). AD is an age-related degenerative brain disorder which develops over a period of years, but is not a normal part of aging (WHO 2015). AD can affect individuals in different ways, but for most people symptoms begin by experiencing difficulty in remembering new information,

Descartes And Hume Essay Example For Students

Descartes And Hume Essay There are three ways in which one is able to find truth: through reason (A is A), by utilizing the senses (paper burns) or by faith (God is all loving). As the period of the Renaissance came to a close, the popular paradigm for philosophers shifted from faith to reason and finally settling on the senses. Thinkers began to challenge authorities, including great teachers such as Aristotle and Plato, and through skepticism the modern world began. The French philosopher, Ren Descartes who implemented reason to find truth, as well as the British empiricist David Hume with his usage of analytic-synthetic distinction, most effectively utilized the practices of skepticism in the modern world. Ren Descartes was the first philosopher to introduce the intellectual system known as radical doubt. According to Descartes, everything he had learned before could have possibly been tainted by society or the senses, therefore he began to tear down the edifice of knowledge and rebuild it from the foundations up (Palmer 157). It was not that everything necessarily had to be false, but physical laws could not offer absolute certainty. Therefore Descartes used reason alone as his tool towards gaining absolute truth; truth being something that one could not possibly doubt. In his conclusion, Descartes found that the only thing that holds absolutely true is his existence. His famous quote, Cogito ergo sum can be translated into I think, therefore I am.By this Descartes implied that when you doubt, someone is doubting, and you cannot doubt that you are. With this revelation, the French philosopher continued to define selfhood as his consciousness. For in Descartes terms, it was plausible t o doubt that one has a body, but impossible to doubt the existence of ones mind; therefore self and mind must be identical (Palmer 162). Hume on the other hand, took a different approach to the idea of self. He believed that there in fact was no such thing as selfhood. Instead he asserts that it must be some one impression, that gives rise to every real idea. But selfis not any one impression, but that to which our several impressions and ideas are supposed to have a reference (597). By this he implies that in order to form concrete ideas, ones impressions of pain, pleasure, joy, etc. must be invariable throughout time. This, Hume states, we know without a doubt to be impossible. Passions succeed each other over time and give rise to new passions, therefore it cannot be from any of these impressionsthat the idea of self is derived, and consequently there is no such idea (597). Although like Descartes, Hume practiced the art of radical skepticism, he felt that if he could not utilize his senses to prove something it was meaningless. Hume continued development of Leibnizs analytical-synthetic distinction, or in Humes wo rds a distinction between relations of ideas and matters of fact (Palmer 197). Analytical propositions are true by definition and are a priori, and therefore necessarily true. Synthetic propositions are not true by definition and posteriori, and consequently can be false. However while Hume used these propositions to define analysis, his main clarification was that while one has the two levels of knowledge, that which is sensible and that which is found through reason, there is no separation between the two. Words/ Pages : 567 / 24