Who taught : Holt (From Parenthood)

Parenthood (source: Wikipedia)

Gooder, More good, More big, More bigger, more happy

What are these? Well, as you can see, these are all wrong expressions. One of the difficult things in English is to use “more” or “-er” properly as the comparative form of adjectives. You may get away from mistakes with the comparative form in writing. But, it is easy to make a mistake when you speak. To refresh your memory, let me explain how to use the comparative form of adjectives correctly.

1. One syllable words form the comparative by adding -er or -est. (e.g : braver)

2. Two syllable words that end in -y, -le, and -er form the comparative by adding -er or -est (e.g  : happier, cleverer)

3. Words with more than two syllables form the comparative with more or most (e.g : more important, more beautiful)

Whenever I make mistakes with these, I feel like I am so dumb. I mean, this is one of the things I have seen in my English exams so many times. Yet, I still make mistakes, especially when I speak.

But, I would say, “Do not worry about it too much.” All of my friends understand what I am saying and, in fact, I have heard Americans using this in a wrong way too. Also, in a commercial that I have seen, they also use the expression, gooder, instead of better. It is too obvious that they use it intentionally but my point is everybody understands what it means. Many times, non-native English speakers are afraid of speaking English, worrying about making mistakes. Thus, they do not want to mingle with native English speakers. I would say, “Be brave! Go out and speak English as much as you can. That is the shortcut for you to get better and better in English.”

One of the TV shows I really love to watch these days is Parenthood. I would strongly recommend it. Its stories are about love and conflicts between parents and children. It is very touching. In last week’s episode, Drew Holt’s friend used one expression that caught my attention. He said, “Let’s have some brewskis.” From the context, I was able to figure out what brewski is. Also, if you know what brewery is, you would be able to figure out what brewski is. That is right. It means beer. According to what I found, one Canadian guy started to use this expression and became popular. But, I am not sure that is correct or not.

Having said that, here is today’s challenge for you! Why don’t you go to your American friend and say, “Hey dude! Do you wanna have some brewskis today?” And when you hang out with him/her, talk about how hard the comparative form in English is and ask some tips. Once again, to be able to get better and better in anything in the world, you have to be proactive and practice. It will get better slowly but be patient. Good luck!