more/most free or frier and friest?
Elle
When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its comparative and
superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and friest?
Thanks in advance.
--
Elle
mUs1Ka
> I just had a sudden thought about using the word "free" as an
> adjective. When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its
> comparative and superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and
> friest?
>
--
Ray
Raymond S. Wise
news:2l9l6eF...@uni-berlin.de...
> I just had a sudden thought about using the word "free" as an adjective.
> When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its comparative and
> superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and friest?
"Freer" and "freest" as you could have seen if you had looked up "free" in
the *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at http://www.m-w.com . What that
entry does not tell you is that "more free" and "most free" are also
acceptable.
See
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=free&x=16&y=13
Notice how the spellings "freer" and "freest" avoid three "e"s in a row,
which would have been the more logical spelling but which would not be
acceptable. For similar reasons, we have "threshold" even though some
pronounce it "thresh-hold" and "won't" and "shan't," even though "wo'n't"
(from the older or dialectal form "woll not" for "will not") and "sha'n't"
would arguably be more logical.
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com
graham
"Raymond S. Wise" <mplsra...@gbronline.com> wrote in message
news:Sb2dnb0ARYu...@gbronline.com...
> "Elle" <dul...@mydestiny.net> wrote in message
> news:2l9l6eF...@uni-berlin.de...
> > I just had a sudden thought about using the word "free" as an adjective.
> > When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its comparative and
> > superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and friest?
>
>
> "Freer" and "freest" as you could have seen if you had looked up "free" in
> the *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at http://www.m-w.com . What that
> entry does not tell you is that "more free" and "most free" are also
> acceptable.
>
Graham
raymond o'hara
"graham" <stra...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:oVTHc.996631$Pk3.337697@pd7tw1no...
A yeoman is freer than a serf and a serf is freer than a slave.
graham
"raymond o'hara" <re...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:baUHc.52669$MB3.16775@attbi_s04...
Raymond S. Wise
The fact that the words "freer" and "freest" are given in a dictionary entry
(in this case, M-W Online) means that they are indeed put to actual
use--modern dictionaries generally have no interest in theoretical usages[1]
but base their entries upon English-language corpora.
Besides, it's an idiomatic usage. If I read a sentence like "'Women are
freer than they've ever been, but I don't think they're necessarily
happier,' says Ms. Crittenden." or "Their imaginations have not been
corrupted, and they are some of the freest thinkers I know."--both of which
are actual examples found on the Internet--I won't stop and wonder at the
use of the words "freer" and "freest" because there is nothing whatsoever
remarkable about their use here.
(It is not just in English that the word "free"--or rather, a term
equivalent in meaning--can be given comparative and superlative forms: In
French, you can say "plus libre" and "le plus libre," and in Esperanto, "pli
libera" and "plej libera.")
Note:
[1] A rare exception can be found under the entry for "guillotineur" (an
executioner who employs a guillotine) in the *Grand Robert,* the largest of
French-language dictionaries: Under that entry, it has: "REM. Le fém.
_guillotineuse_ est virtuel." That is, "Note. The feminine _guillotineuse_
is a potential usage," there not having actually been any female guillotine
operators.
raymond o'hara
"graham" > >
> > A yeoman is freer than a serf and a serf is freer than a slave.
> >
> A yeoman is free. A serf is a slave with privileges.
>
>
True,but that doesn't render the above wrong.
Odysseus
>
> "raymond o'hara" <re...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:baUHc.52669$MB3.16775@attbi_s04...
> >
> >
> A yeoman is free. A serf is a slave with privileges.
And someone with privileges is free to do certain things that those
without are not, hence is to that extent freer than they. Likewise a
knight could be said to be freer than a yeoman, having exclusive
privileges such as the bearing of chivalric arms.
--
Odysseus
meirman
Wise" <mplsra...@gbronline.com> posted:
>"Elle" <dul...@mydestiny.net> wrote in message
>news:2l9l6eF...@uni-berlin.de...
>> I just had a sudden thought about using the word "free" as an adjective.
>> When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its comparative and
>> superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and friest?
>
>
>"Freer" and "freest" as you could have seen if you had looked up "free" in
>the *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at http://www.m-w.com . What that
Nothing personal but why do so many people use this one.
www.dictionary.com gives info from more than one dictionary for one
press of the button, AHD4 and usually two or three others.
>entry does not tell you is that "more free" and "most free" are also
>acceptable.
>
>See
>http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=free&x=16&y=13
>
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years
meirman
And if one is not satisified, it includes a link to m-w.com, and fills
the same word in that one had looked up at www.dictionary.com . m-w
doesn't do eitehr of these in reverse.
In alt.english.usage on Sat, 10 Jul 2004 03:14:21 -0500 "Raymond S.
Wise" <mplsra...@gbronline.com> posted:
>"Elle" <dul...@mydestiny.net> wrote in message
>news:2l9l6eF...@uni-berlin.de...
>> I just had a sudden thought about using the word "free" as an adjective.
>> When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its comparative and
>> superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and friest?
>
>
>"Freer" and "freest" as you could have seen if you had looked up "free" in
>the *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at http://www.m-w.com . What that
Nothing personal but why do so many people use this one.
www.dictionary.com gives info from more than one dictionary for one
press of the button, AHD4 and usually two or three others.
>entry does not tell you is that "more free" and "most free" are also
>acceptable.
>
>See
>http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=free&x=16&y=13
>
Raymond S. Wise
news:8jf1f019anbtbunlm...@4ax.com...
> In alt.english.usage on Sat, 10 Jul 2004 03:14:21 -0500 "Raymond S.
> Wise" <mplsra...@gbronline.com> posted:
>
> >"Elle" <dul...@mydestiny.net> wrote in message
> >news:2l9l6eF...@uni-berlin.de...
> >> I just had a sudden thought about using the word "free" as an
adjective.
> >> When used an adjective though, I am not sure about its comparative and
> >> superlative forms; is it more/most free or frier and friest?
> >
> >
> >"Freer" and "freest" as you could have seen if you had looked up "free"
in
> >the *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at http://www.m-w.com . What that
>
> Nothing personal but why do so many people use this one.
> www.dictionary.com gives info from more than one dictionary for one
> press of the button, AHD4 and usually two or three others.
>
> >entry does not tell you is that "more free" and "most free" are also
> >acceptable.
> >
> >See
> >http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=free&x=16&y=13
The first place I look is on my own computer, at my copy of the electronic
MWCD11: I prefer Merriam-Webster dictionaries in general. In this case,
however, I wanted to show a particular entry to the person to whom I was
replying, so I pointed to the entry in the *Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary* at www.m-w.com .
If I want to look for a word in several dictionaries, I use www.onelook.com
. I think the presentation at www.dictionary.com of the 1913 *Webster's
Revised Unabridged Dictionary* is misleading: The average person consulting
that dictionary might think that it was written in the 1990s, based upon the
copyright date.
meirman
Wise" <mplsra...@gbronline.com> posted:
Thanks. I tried it just now.
>. I think the presentation at www.dictionary.com of the 1913 *Webster's
>Revised Unabridged Dictionary* is misleading: The average person consulting
>that dictionary might think that it was written in the 1990s, based upon the
>copyright date.
That's certainly what I thought! Thanks.
What is WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University, btw, if you know?
Raymond S. Wise
[...]
> What is WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University, btw, if you know?
I don't know anything about it other than it is available by way of
www.onelook.com and is copyright by Princeton University. :-)
Then there's WordNet 2.0 Vocabulary Helper. Take a look at its entry for
"free" (which *doesn't* have "freer" and "freest"):
http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/wn?cmd=wn&word=free
meirman
Wise" <mplsra...@gbronline.com> posted:
>"meirman" <mei...@invalid.com> wrote in message
>news:53f6f0d9k43c8aobl...@4ax.com...
>
>
>[...]
>
>
>> What is WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University, btw, if you know?
>
>
>I don't know anything about it other than it is available by way of
>www.onelook.com and is copyright by Princeton University. :-)
>
>Then there's WordNet 2.0 Vocabulary Helper. Take a look at its entry for
>"free" (which *doesn't* have "freer" and "freest"):
It does have a lot of other stuff, though. Wow. Thanks again.
>http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/wn?cmd=wn&word=free