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Message board > Hello there
Hello there
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solange73
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Hello there
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I am a new member in here, a teacher from my institution recommended it to me.
I have a big question. I found this (Premium book) which I do not understand at all.
It is as follow Comparative meaning "relatively" (one of...; one for....)
e.g He is one of the more colorful artist from that period.
Would it be wrong to say?
He is one of the most colorful artist from that period.
What would be the difference then? Both are ok.
Another example:
She is one of the nicer people I work with.
She is one of the nicest people I work with. I have another example:
It is less busy at 7:00 P.M than at most other times.
QUIETER
7:00 PM is one of the QUIETER times. Why? 
Thanks for your help.
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17 May 2012
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Apodo
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He is one of the more colorful artists from that period.
He is one of the most colorful artists from that period.
You can use both, but to me the artist in the second sentence is more colourful than in the first.
We have a group of colourful artrists, a group of more colourful artists and a group of the most colourful artists. The artist in the second sentence is from the third group.
The same for nicer/nicest.
It is less busy at 7:00 P.M than at most other times.
7:00 PM is one of the QUIETER times.
There are several times during the day when it is quieter than at other times, 8 AM, 2 PM and 7 PM for example. The above sentence describes 7 PM as one of these quieter times.
We can also say:
7 PM is one of the quietest times of the day.
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18 May 2012
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dafodil
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I haven �t understood your question very well, but the difference is between the comparative and the superlative. I �ve learnt that "the comparative is used to compare things or people that are separate from each other. The superlative is used to compare one member of a group with the whole group (including that member). Compare: Mary �s nicer than her three sisters. Mary �s the nicest of the four girls in the family. In the first sentence, Mary is not one of the three sisters; we use the comparative. In the second sentence, Mary is one of the four girls that we are talking about; we use the superlative. I �m younger than my sister/Your accent is worse than mine. I �m the youngest in my family/ Your accent is the worst in class" (Swam, M., 1986: 144). So he is one of the most colourful artist from that period. It means that he belongs to the group of artists of that period and he is the most colour of the group, being he an artist of the group (it �s the highest degree). He is one of the more colourful artists. It means that he is not one of the artists from the group in that period but he is more colourful than the group from that period. Have you understood? I don �t know if i have.... |
18 May 2012
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yanogator
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When we use "one of the" + comparative adjective, we are comparing it with "not at all" rather than with all the others. 7PM might not be very quiet, so it isn �t one of the quietest times, but it isn �t a busy/noisy time, so it �s one of the quieter times. She isn �t in the top 3 for niceness, but she isn �t in the bottom 3 either, so she �s one of the nicer people, but not one of the nicest. I hope that helps. It was a lot simpler before I started writing it. (I think that should be the motto of the English language!) Bruce |
18 May 2012
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solange73
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Thank you a lot for your time and your kind explanations. I am totally thrilled.
Thanks a bunch.
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18 May 2012
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