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Would you say “a bigger” OR “a larger question”?

I am not sure which one is grammatically correct.

Mari-Lou A
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Catalina
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  • Possible duplicate of http://english.stackexchange.com/q/24499/50044 – NVZ Jul 03 '16 at 23:26
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    Usually they mean the same thing. But here, bigger means more important. So a bigger question is a question with more importance. Larger just means more size. So unless the question can be measured in units of length, it's incorrect to say larger question. – NVZ Jul 03 '16 at 23:28
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    @NVZ - Google returns hundreds of instances of the larger question is in both published books and contemporary news stories. I don't think it's "incorrect." – J.R. Jul 03 '16 at 23:45
  • @J.R. Maybe it's just incorrect to my ears. I'm not a native English speaker. Thanks for pointing that out. – NVZ Jul 03 '16 at 23:46
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    You need to provide some context, what exactly do you want to say, gives us a full sentence? What makes you think that large might be better or worse than big? – Mari-Lou A Jul 03 '16 at 23:48
  • Neither of them are grammatically incorrect. The larger question would be: When might one be more appropriate than the other? – J.R. Jul 03 '16 at 23:52
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    @J.R. An even bigger question: Is it better suited to ELL? Can you migrate it? – NVZ Jul 03 '16 at 23:55
  • @NVZ - Perhaps this will be migrated eventually; I can't migrate it myself. However, it might be more useful to provide a link to [ell.se], so this new user will know what ELL means. – J.R. Jul 03 '16 at 23:58
  • Whichever one turns you on. – Hot Licks Jul 03 '16 at 23:59
  • Bigger is more for the significance, larger is more for dealing with the whole situation. For example: "The bigger question is if you want to get the surgery, the larger question is will your insurance pay for the surgery and the related expenses. – user183590 Jul 04 '16 at 15:47

1 Answers1

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Large is a bit more formal and stronger than big.
Large also emphasizes "big in more than one dimensions (like area or volume)".

  • "We need a larger cup." (Need more volume)
  • "We need a bigger knife." (No volume emphasized)
  • "I wear large size clothing."
  • "This is a large backyard." (big in length and width)
  • "I've never seen such a big bear." (No emphasis on the bear's volume or area)

Reference: http://www.grammarbank.com/big-large-great.html

As you cannot define an actual area or volume for the noun "Question" it's more likely to say big or bigger question.

However there is a book by J. Bronowski called "Large Questions", which means that the term "large question" or "Larger Question" isn't incorrect.

NVZ
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Kian Maghsoodi
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