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I'd like to know what´s wrong in the sentence:

I didn't drink any more than the guys did, but I got so much drunker.

I believe it's the quantifier + the comparative that is wrong, but I'm not sure why. And one more thing: it's a teenage girl talking about hanging out with friends: when she says "guys", is she referring just to the boys in the group, or to the group in general (boys and girls)? Thank you!

Mark Beadles
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Graciela2019
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    I can't see anything ungrammatical about 'so much drunker'. "She's so much taller than Pam." "She's so much taller." / I think it's merely an unusual wording. 'Drunker' is unusual ('drunk' is perhaps not miles away from being ungradeable) and it's just that 'so much drunker' is highly unusual. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 01 '19 at 14:06
  • "Guys" is not considered to be restricted to boys these days. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Nov 01 '19 at 20:36
  • @Cascabel Maybe I'm too old, but in the context of a comparison coming from a girl, it seems like it specifically means boys. A more neutral term like "others" would be used to avoid being specific. – Barmar Nov 01 '19 at 22:24
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    @Barmar This observation comes from listening to 2 daughters growing up ( the oldest is 40). AmE speaker here. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Nov 01 '19 at 22:26
  • @Cascabel If she said "I'm going out with the guys", I'd interpret that as gender-neutral. But the original sentence is a comparison, and I believe women tend to be more affected by alcohol than men (because they tend to have less body mass). So it suggests a male-vs-female distinction is being made. – Barmar Nov 01 '19 at 22:32
  • Women get drunker than men Not body mass, but other physiological differences between the sexes. – Barmar Nov 01 '19 at 22:34
  • drunk - more drunk - most drunk. I haven't heard one say, drunk/ drunker/ drunkest. – Ram Pillai Nov 02 '19 at 07:36

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It isn't technically grammatically incorrect, but it is a little bit of an unusual way of phrasing it, which is probably why it sounds just a little 'off'. I believe the more common way to phrase it would be:

I got so much more drunk.

Again, though, it is still a proper way to say it. It's just not as common.

There are some cases where this type of phrasing would not be correct, as in the following example: "I think my friend is more beautiful than me." Here, one could not substitute "more beautiful" with "beautifuller", as this is not a word.

To address your second question: In this particular sentence, it seems she is referring to her male friends. An example of a gender neutral use of the term "guys" would be: "Hey, you guys! Come over here!"

elben
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