Why “More Better” is Incorrect

In English, we use comparative adjectives to compare two things. For example:

• “Sarah is taller than Emma.”
• “This coffee is stronger than the one I had yesterday.”

When comparing, we typically use either:

1. Adding -er to the end of the adjective for one-syllable words (like “tall” becomes “taller”).
2. Adding the word more before the adjective for longer words (like “more beautiful”).

“Better” is a special case—it’s already a comparative form of the adjective “good.”

Here’s a quick outline to help you understand:

• Good → Better
  • “Good” is the positive form.
  • “Better” is the comparative form.
  • You would say, “Today’s weather is better than yesterday’s.”

Since “better” is already a comparative, adding ‘more’ would be redundant and ungrammatical. You don’t need both “more” and “better” together; simply saying “better” achieves the comparison by itself.

Key Points to Remember

• More + Adjective is used with adjectives that don’t already have a comparative form (like “beautiful” becomes “more beautiful”).
• -er Suffix is typically added to single-syllable adjectives (like “tall” becomes “taller”).
• Irregular Comparatives like “good” and “better” are unique forms that you just need to memorize.

Examples to Clarify

To help you master this, let’s look at examples with “good” and some similar structures:

1. Correct: “This pizza is better than the one I had yesterday.”
   • Incorrect: “This pizza is more better than the one I had yesterday.” 🚫
2. Correct: “That movie was better than the last one.”
   • Incorrect: “That movie was more better than the last one.” 🚫

In each case, using “more” before “better” sounds awkward and incorrect because “better” already implies comparison.

Practice Exercise

Let’s try a few practice sentences! Choose the correct word:

1. “This coffee tastes ___ than the one yesterday.”
   • (a) more better
   • (b) better
2. “She is ___ than her older sister at playing the piano.”
   • (a) more talented
   • (b) talenteder
3. “I think this book is ___ than the last one I read.”
   • (a) more interesting
   • (b) interestinger

Answers:

1. (b) better
2. (a) more talented
3. (a) more interesting