题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
湖北省荆州中学2019-2020学年高一上学期英语期中考试试卷
You probably know the basics of how comparatives(比较级) and superlatives(最高级) work in the English language. When comparing something, you often add an "-er" to the end of the comparative adjective. The general rule is that one-syllable(音节) words get the suffix(后缀), and polysyllabic words get "more" or "most." That is, unless the two-syllable word ends in a "y"; if that's the case, you will add the suffixes and change the "y" to an "i".
But what about the word "fun"? This simple adjective only has one syllable, so you'd think you'd add suffixes on it to create superlatives. But if you were to say "I think Magic Kingdom is a funner park than Epcot." or "Disney World was the funnest vacation ever!" you might get some strange looks. It doesn't sound quite right. But…why? "Fun" is one syllable, so why do we choose "more fun" as the comparative—especially considering that the similar word "funny," which has more syllables than "fun," uses the suffixes with no problem?
Well, the problem comes from the fact that the word "fun" was not originally an adjective. Until the early 19th century, it was mostly just a noun, and it gained its meaning as "amusement" in the 18th century. But as early as the 1800s, people began using it as an adjective, the way we'd describe "a fun time" or "a fun place" today.
Basically, language is still developing. Grammarians have mostly come around to the use of "fun" as an adjective (though some dictionaries still call it informal). There was (and remains) an agreement of "Fine, you can use ‘fun' as an adjective…but, like, it's not really one, so it can't follow the rules of real adjectives." So they also agree that the answer to "is funner a word?" is yes. If you want to consider "fun," as an adjective, then "funner" is indeed a word, as is "funnest". But this doesn't mean that "more fun" and "most fun" are incorrect, though; in fact, in formal writing, you'll probably still want to use those instead of "funner" and "funnest."
The English language is chock-full of uncertain grammar rules; there's no need to insist that a word breaks the common rules of language just because we didn't used to use it in a way we do now.
Our warming planet is expected to face serious water crisis(危机)in the coming decades — which means each nation's natural resource will be more important than ever. |
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