Learning english grammar is more fun than i thought it would be. I know of no hard and fast grammar rule that dictates this. There are easily funny words in english maybe more depending on how you. In her article, she goes on to say that language mavens find use of the words funner and funnest to be grating and horrifying. Today i listened to grammar girls podcast from last week. Youve likely heard some southern words and phrases in your time, but you do know all of these. Try these ways to make your grammar lessons more fun. Thats not entirely accurate, of course, as matt gordon pointed out to me on twitter. Online sensation grammar girl makes grammar fun and easy in this new york times bestseller. A guide to language for fun and spite by june casagrande mar 28, 2006. People often dont give more weightage to punctuation, but it is essential. Funnier is not a real word, but people still use it more fun is correct when talking about fun, but funnier is correct when talking about comedy. The most mistakes kids make in learning to speak is overapplying known grammatical rules, its also the thing that nonnative speakers have the biggest problem with.
Grammar girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed. In grammar girl s quick and dirty tips to clean up your writing, mignon fogarty, the woman behind the popular grammar girl podcast, tackles some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. Here are some examples of fun used as an adjective. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing.
In the past 200 years, funner has barely even registered in these print sources across american and british english. The comparative form of fun is more fun, not funner. Whether you want to use funner, more fun, funnest, or most fun is completely a matter of preference. There werent a whole lot of actual writing tips, with the exception of a short chapter near the end with advice like avoid cliches like the plague. Picklethe book on writinggrammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for. Mar 25, 2004 the adjectival use of fun is accepted rather widely. Oct 18, 2019 if you want to consider fun, as an adjective, a word, then funner is indeed a word, as is funnest, per normal rules of adjective formation. Word routes adding er or est to fun can elicit very strong reactions. There are some in the book who are irritated by barbara and jims popularity edith maxwellbishop and vernon whitfield, for example and who seem to believe that entertainment should be more traditional and less bawdy.
Many dictionaries acknowledge this use, but still label the adjective form as informal. The writeathome blog a place to talk about words, writing. These 75 classroomtested games and activities will help your students learn and remember the grammar they need to know. The use of fun as an adjective is itself still often seen as informal or casual and to be avoided in formal writing, and this would apply equally to the comparative form. Buy grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing quick. The ultimate homework book grammar usage mechanics. Grammar girl quick and dirty tips for better writing iheartradio. Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic science fiction novel showing the dangers of censorship.
Grammar girls quick and dirty tips mignon fogarty talks at. Written in the early 1950s, it reflects the fears that manifested during americas atomic age, during which arms races and development of weapons of mass destruction made tensions high. Written in the early 1950s, it reflects the fears that manifested during americas atomic age, during which arms races and development. Having a grammar checker means you dont have to remember all the grammar rules, even vocabulary is. Outside of direct quotations, usually those of small children, the use of funner is almost universally rejected and almost never appears in printed sources. Some english traditionalists claim that the only correct comparative form of the adjective fun is more fun, that the only superlative is most fun, and that funner and funnest are only appropriate in the most informal contexts. Grammar girl, wrote an article in 2008 which explains that the divide lies between using fun correctly as a noun, versus using it incorrectly as an adjective. We all get that the writer really, really loves her mom, and changing funner to more fun wouldnt improve their relationship or that heartfelt tribute one bit. However, the use of fun as an adjective is itself still often seen as informal or casual and to be avoided in formal writing, and this would apply equally to the superlative form. Nov 18, 2020 building a business is fun, collaborating to build your business is funner. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. Cheese as improper grammar, and my first reaction was thats not grammar.
Magic mountain is the most fun or funnest of all of the amusement parks in the world. May 30, 2008 we chose to go to magic mountain because it is more fun or funner, as you say than disneyland. The use may change in time to the er comparative form or it may remain frozen with the more form. Usage notes while funner is a regular comparative of the adjective fun, the comparative more fun is much more common.
The reason we cannot say funner or funnest is because fun is most definitely a noun, not an adjective. Yes funner is a word, it was not at first but the word came to be more popular and now is in the 2010 dictonary. Jan 24, 20 mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. She is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame, and the show is a fivetime winner of best education podcast in the podcast awards. More funny is the grammatically correct way of saying it. More fun to form the comparative form of an adjective, you typically follow one of two rules. Fourth grade teacher, las vegas public school system whether you are a grammar phobe seeking guidance, a parent looking for a tutorial that your kids will enjoy and therefore use or a writer seeking a fun reference manual for frustrating recurring questions, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for. We did a lot of fun activities in groups and individually to learn, have a fun time, and to get to know each other better. Funner is not a word, so more fun is the correct way of expressing a relative surplus of fun. Funner is considered a misspelled word by microsoft word spell checker. Merriamwebster, however, gives fun as an adjective without comment, and states that funner and funnest are sometimes used. When someone says its funner, it makes me believe that theres been a lapse in their education.
This rule might once have been justifiable, but today it is obsolete, and it lives on only because not enough people have dared break it. Its funny that when it comes to comparatives you use more fun and funnier since funny is a longer adjective. Taken from wiktionary funnest is a regular superlative of the adjective fun. The grammatical rule for adding er or more to make a comparative adjective says that if it is a one syllable word like calm, hot, cold, you add er to the adjective. Jan 01, 2008 a more accurate title would probably be grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better grammar. Still, plenty of others label things funner and funnest. If i were to be asked is that a book or a magazine. Although some people may use funner as the comparative of fun, i dont think funner is common or standard.
Do you avoid the words affect and effect altogether. Explore this list and embrace the southerner in you. Early in funny girl, before recording barbara and jim for comedy playhouse, sophie straw says of the show, i dont want it to go out into the world. Its funny and comprehensive, and gives several ways to remember the correct usage of words so you wont make the.
To traditionalists, according to garner, the adjectival fun and its comparative forms remain blemishes in both writing and speech. Funner in the sentence i dont know a better person or a funner person to be around i love you, mom, hinders the understanding of the reader not a jot. Funnier still, birdinhand is dyedinthewool quaker and amish country. This is a fun thing to do, but the use of the er and est forms grate on the ears of anyone over thirty. Grammar girls 101 misused words youll never confuse again.
That said, you can still learn how to make grammar lessons more fun and less of a snooze fest, just like other teachers have learned to do. The average person seems to have become more desensitized to poor grammar, but language lovers seem to be tormented by the flood of mutilated email and text messagesat least a lot of the people i hear from seem to be tormented. In a recent post on copyediting, andrea altenburg criticized the word funner in an ad for chuck e. Did you know that in the book gone with the wind, rhett butler said my dear. Having a grammar checker means you dont have to remember all the grammar rules, even vocabulary is also builtin already for grabbing new words. A more accurate title would probably be grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better grammar. Some onesyllable words, such as fun, are exceptions. The objection to funner was originally grammatical, and the copyediting post does make an appeal to grammar. The use of fun as an adjective is itself still often seen as informal american heritage dictionary of the english language, 4th edition, 2000. While funner is a regular comparative of the adjective fun, the comparative more fun is much more common.
Bistappayya nadiger, grammar teacher, guide and advisor. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writingaudiobook. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing quick. This video walks you through my process and explains how to find your dream collaborations. Buy grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. The reason we cannot say funner or funnest is because fun. So fun, how fun, very fun, funner, and funnest are much more sensible.
When i got home, i pulled out ggs book, and found the sentence i. Mar 28, 2006 116 of over 2,000 results for funny grammar books grammar snobs are great big meanies. As i said in the addendum to my last post, maybe im not so ready to abandon the technical definition of grammar. Thats 4,036 pages filled with thousands of practical activities and tips that you can start using today. Mar 08, 2019 fun as an adjective is more of a nonstandard form. Essentially what has happened here is that fun has evolved differently than most other words in the english language. I would stick to using it as the original noun that it has always been. Fahrenheit 451 summary and analysis writing explained. Many people, perhaps most people, strongly prefer more fun and most fun as the comparative and superlative forms of fun. For some reason more fun is firmly embedded in my psyche as the correct expression. Find out if you should be saying funner or more fun.
Yes, rod, it does because it isnt a proper adjective. Fun definition, something that provides mirth or amusement. Andrea altenburg, ben zimmer, coca, coha, copyediting, fun, funner, funnest, grammar, grammar girl, matt gordon, mwdeu, stan carey, usage 22 comments as i said in the addendum to my last post, maybe im not so ready to abandon the technical definition of grammar. Oct 04, 2017 funnier, you can also say more fun in some instances. Whether english is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better. What is the difference between more fun and funner. Its not the first time funnest or funner, for that matter has pushed peevers buttons. When i first heard the term funner used 20 or so years ago it was always and only spoken, so that it could be given.
Is playing video games funner or more fun than studying grammar. Whitfield also says of the shows audience, i love ordinary people individually. There are some in the book who are irritated by barbara and jims popularity edith maxwellbishop and vernon whitfield, for. That means that unless fun is an exception to the rule and of course the english language has many exceptions. Oct 03, 2008 funner in the sentence i dont know a better person or a funner person to be around i love you, mom, hinders the understanding of the reader not a jot.
Mignon fogarty, grammar girl, wrote a nyt bestseller, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for. The word funner may make you laugh, but do you know if its a legitimate word or not. Our grammar book says that more and much here are adverbs, but in the sentence. The crotchety oldguy answer is that funner is always incorrect because there is no such word. I had more fun, fun on this sentence is a noun but if i say it was a fun party, then fun is an adjective, funner sounds weird. Jun 16, 2016 mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing.
Grammar girl is your friendly guide to the english languagewriting, history. Noun tick tac toe, adjective bingo, adverb charades, hinky pinky adjectives, poetic prepositions, and verb detectives are just some of the engaging games and activities sure to make your grammar lessons lively and memorable. May 10, 2019 while funner is a regular comparative of the adjective fun, the comparative more fun is much more common. In 2011, time called this book one of the 100 best and most influential books written in english since 1923, so it is definitely one of the best grammar books around. Brandon shares funny stories about character and place na. English grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. Each teacher should allow hisher esl lessons to be driven by hisher unique teaching style. Grammar isnt my thing, but you want to know what is. Learn whether it is okay to say funner or funnest and whether fun can be an. Fun is more of an abstract thing than cake, but theyre both nouns. Listen to this audiobook excerpt and hear mignon fogarty read from her book grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing.
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