Can you use "more quickly" in the following context?
I can move more quickly than she can.
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1According to the grammar books 'more quickly' is the right way to say it. But then in speech 'quicker' is less of a mouthful than 'more quickly' and so it has now passed into common use. – Zzyrk Feb 06 '14 at 17:42
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2But what about quicklier ?? – GEdgar Feb 06 '14 at 17:47
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There’s nothing wrong with doing something quicker. – tchrist Feb 06 '14 at 18:18
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Yes you can, especially you have what the sports world calls "good quickness" (-: – Jim Mack Feb 06 '14 at 18:41
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@GEdgar 'Quicklier' is what I said, did'le I ! – WS2 Feb 06 '14 at 20:15
2 Answers
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Yes, that works.
You can also say
- I can move quicker than she can.
- She moves quickly, but I can move quicker still.
- Between us, I move quickest.
- Between us, I move quicker.
- I am even quicker than she.
Edited to Add: Since I got a complaint and a downvote for using "quicker" and "quickest" as adverbs (when they seem nominally to be adjectives), I thought I would put that as a question, and garnered responses that seemed to militate strongly towards my usage here to be legitimate. A paraphrased "Casual yet still grammatical" was the judgment of one commenter who consulted an online dictionary about adverbial use of a nominal adjective.
So I will stand by my answer, and invite the downvoter to reconsider.
Edited further to Add: I had never heard of the term "flat adverb" before, but @FumbleFingers directed my attention to it on grammarist.com:
"Some adverbs don’t change from their adjectival forms. These are known as flat adverbs. A few of the most common ones are close, deep, fast, quick, and right. Some of these have corresponding -ly adverbs with which they are interchangeable—for example, come quick and come quickly mean the same thing."
Cyberherbalist
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Nooooo ...
quickis not an adverb, regardless of @Zzyrk's assertion regarding "common use". – dg99 Feb 06 '14 at 20:16 -
Please @dg99, where did I use "quick" as an adverb? I am very puzzled by your comment. I wrote "quicker" and "quickest", never "quick", and those are adjectives. – Cyberherbalist Feb 06 '14 at 21:42
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Precisely.
quickerandquickestare adjectives, not adverbs, yet you applied them to the verbmove. – dg99 Feb 06 '14 at 22:24 -
@dg99 I invite you to reconsider your downvote (if it was you) in the light of responses to the question I put to ELU, which is referenced in the answer. – Cyberherbalist Feb 07 '14 at 16:57
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yes you can. you can compare adverb like adjectives for example: fast faster fastest high higher highest or for more than one syllable you can use for example: carefully more carefully (the) most carefully
reference: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/adverb_steig.htm
Ali
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