so I've heard the expression "it sounds more natural" in many English podcasts but as everyone knows "natural" is an uncountable adjective, therefore "much" should be preceded before the adjective. I cannot really figure it out why is this happening in English?
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3Nouns are countable/uncountable. Adjectives aren't classified this way.– Peter ShorCommented Feb 13, 2016 at 14:29
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You are confused with an adjective and its comparative form. There are only two ways to make a comparative with an adjective. Much is never used unless it modifies a comparative. Please see the related question, Conundrum: “cleverer” or “more clever”, “simpler” or “more simple” etc.– user140086Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 15:50
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1 Answer
More is an intensifier here. With shorter adjectives you would say or write:
brighter, taller, sweeter
and
funnier, shinier, lovelier.
but with longer adjectives/adverbs/ prefer:
more natural, less infrequently, more respected, better qualified.
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2Sorry to nitpick, Hugh, but "unlikely" does have the inflected forms "unlikelier and "unlikeliest", but they are a bit of a mouthful.– BillJCommented Feb 13, 2016 at 14:58
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you mean like these situations happen in speaking or what ? Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 15:07
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1I'm not sure I've come across the 'intensifier' label being applied to 'more'. 'Much' when used before a comparative adjective (much faster, much more comfortable) or adverb (much faster, much more quickly) is a secondary or degree modifier. CGEL [2002] [6.3.2] distinguishes between what the authors label the superlative marker (this is the most useful type of hoe) and the intensifying (this is a most useful tool) uses of 'most', so 'more' here would be the 'comparative marker'. Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 17:14