Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite

Which is correct: increasingly XXX or increasingly more XXX, where XXX is an adjective? A colleague and I are disagreeing. I think the use of more is redundant.

share|improve this question

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Although increasingly more seems popular, none of increasingly's examples here include more:

People are becoming increasingly aware of this problem.
Increasingly, scientists are questioning the data.
The situation grew increasingly hopeless.

Tacking on more adds the same sort of redundancy discussed in this question.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

If people are more aware of something, then their awareness of it is greater than it was at some time in the past. If they’re increasingly aware of it, then the rate of growth of their awareness is accelerating. If they are increasingly more aware of it, then the rate of accelertion of their awareness is itself increasing.

share|improve this answer
1  
I would say that "increasingly more aware" instead implies that the fraction of the people whose awareness is increasing, is also increasing. – Karl Knechtel Jan 28 '12 at 15:34
@Karl Knechtel: I agree - grammatically it's probably nonsense, but when we see "increasingly more" in the context of people's awareness, we tend to assume not only that the number of people who are aware is increasing, but the ones who are already aware are becoming more aware. Or alternatively more people are becoming aware and their levels of awareness are increasing - it doesn't really make much difference since both ways round we're assuming there are two things on the rise at the same time. – FumbleFingers Jan 28 '12 at 16:07

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.