More vs. Most

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Carol Henderson. I’m from Tallahassee, Florida. How are you today?

Super, Carol. How are you doing?

I’m doing well. I am hopeful that maybe you can help me solve an issue or shed some light on an issue that’s been bugging me for quite some time.

When I grew up in school, the words more and most were reserved for more if you were comparing two things and most if you were comparing more than two things.

And just a couple of examples of what I’m talking about.

I was just watching the Westminster Dog Show the other evening, and it jumped out at me again.

I mean, they just jump out everywhere.

And it said, this breed has been in the show, and it listed what year it began.

And then they said, making it one of the older breeds of the show.

Well, I know there are way more breeds than two.

So it seems like that should be most.

Then just the other day, a fellow teacher said to me, gosh, she’s one of the more difficult students I’ve ever had in class.

And I thought, I know she’s had more than two students.

And so just examples of that, as I say, keep coming up to me all the time.

And there’s something about it that just jumps out at me, and then I lose track of what else they’re saying because that has hit my attention.

So I’m wondering if you can shed some light on this more and most situation for me.

Well, let’s see.

That’s an interesting construction, making it one of the oldest breeds in the show or one of the older breeds in the show.

Or another one that I just came up against is we were doing some applications here at school, and somebody said, well, he’s read all the applications, and Johnny is certainly the stronger candidate.

Well, there were about 40 applications.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, that one’s very clear, right?

That one’s very clear because it’s just Johnny versus everybody else.

No, I don’t know if there’s supposed to be an understood of everything else is the other one, and then that’s what makes more okay.

But to me, it should be most because you’re comparing it with lots of other individual things.

So I am just wondering if you can help me with this because it has been bothering me.

And if I have to let it go because you say it’s okay, then I will.

Wow, that’s a lot of power to invest in this.

Yeah, I don’t know.

Maybe you should because now you have me thinking about it.

I’m stumbling over it myself.

Okay, I think the difference is with Johnny being the strongest candidate, it’s Johnny compared to everybody else, right?

And so he is the most there.

It’s a superlative.

He’s the strongest candidate.

But when you’re talking about one of the more difficult students, I suppose there can be many students who are more difficult than others.

So it seems to me that those two are different.

Okay.

So there’s an extra nuance there.

If you say tuna is one of the more rare species of fish, then you mean that it is not necessarily the most rare, but it is more rare than average?

Is that what we’re saying?

Yeah, it’s one of the rarer species, but not the rarest.

So it’s a way of doing kind of rough, vague comparisons where your line between more and less is not clearly defined, right?

Yeah.

It’s without putting numbers to it or statistics to it.

Is that what you’re saying, Martha?

Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.

And there’s a difference to me when you’re talking about one specimen out of all the – one specimen compared to all the other specimens versus one specimen who’s a member of a whole group that is more of something than the rest.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, I can see – I could definitely see a role for more here to be used in this way.

Carol, do you remember being taught a specific rule that goes that way?

My rule was if I was comparing apples and oranges, then one of them would be more than the other.

If I was comparing apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas, then one was most.

Right, right. And I think the difference there is that if you’re comparing, let’s see, I’m trying to think of a thing that unites those things.

If you were comparing apples, oranges, bananas, and sandwiches, the first four would be fruitier than the other.

They would be the fruit most.

Carol, you’ve asked a very difficult question.

Yeah, this is a bit of a…

But I think the gist of this here is that what you’re hearing, I think, try to summarize this and kind of wrap this up in vagueness.

But I think what you’re saying here is it’s very interesting to hear somebody use a comparative where you’re expecting a superlative.

Oh, man.

I’m going to be thinking about this all day, Carol.

Thank you very much.

Well, thank you for at least giving me a few more ways to think about it.

Did we?

Yes.

Our pleasure.

And I do very much enjoy your show because I love grammar.

Oh, great.

Very nice to hear.

Thank you for calling.

Well, you’ve come to the right place.

Well, drop us a line again sometime, all right?

Okay.

Thank you so much.

This is one of the more thoughtful shows out there on the radio.

Okay.

You’re one of our better guests.

You’re the most…

No, never mind.

Thank you, Carol.

All right.

Thanks for coming.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Give us a call if you’ve got a question about grammar like this.

Let’s see if we can make a model of it.

1-877-929-9673.

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