Pleasanter or more pleasant than

I always enjoy your columns and learn something new

and often useful from them. But pleasanter, not more
pleasant than? Perhaps you were caught up in the slangy
context of the article.
Was it wrong of me to say pleasanter? Rabbi
Hammermans question got me thinking about an issue I
had never thought about before. Is there any rule that tells
us when the comparative form of an adjective is made by
adding -er and when by being preceded by more? If
there is, Ive never come across it in any book of English
grammar or usage. And yet every language has many
rules that arent conspicuous enough for the grammar
books to mention or for native speakers even to be aware
of. A high percentage of the sentences we utter are partly
formed by such unconscious rules, in the absence of which
we would be forced to make constant decisions that would
slow down our speech considerably. What, then, is the rule
governing pleasanter verses more pleasant?
In an attempt to find it, I began by making an
associational list of comparative adjectives. Quicker.
Slower. More methodical. More patient. More willing.
Readier. Sooner. Later. Darker. Brighter. Sunnier. Cloudier.
Sadder. More depressed. More melancholy. More cheerful.
Happier. Funnier. Gladder. More content. Wiser. Smarter.
Shrewder. More cunning. Craftier. More skillful. More
experienced, etc., etc.
Did a rule suggest itself from these examples? Indeed, it
did. It went: Comparative adjectives are formed with -er
from all one-syllable words, such as quick, slow,
soon and late, or from words of two syllables ending in
y, such as sunny, cloudy, happy and merry. In all
other cases, they are formed by putting more in front of
them. Such a rule explains why we dont say Hes more
quick than I am, That joke is more funny, Shes
become depresseder over the years or Thats the
methodicaler approach. We automatically avoid such
usages without having to think about them.
Since pleasant isnt a one-syllable word, or a twosyllable word ending in y, Rabbi Hammerman would
appear to be right: I should have said more pleasant

rather than pleasanter. But why, then, do I rebel against

this conclusion and still feel that pleasanter, while not
excluding the possibility of more pleasant, is perfectly
good English? Can it be that the rule I have formulated is
inexact? Are there more-than-one-syllable adjectives not
ending in y that take -er, too?
Actually, there are. Looking for such cases, I thought of a
dozen or more. Although it wouldnt be wrong to say,
Theres a more simple solution to that problem, one
would more probably say, Theres a simpler solution,
even though simple, like pleasant, is a two-syllable
word not ending in y. Similarly, We live on a quieter
street than they do feels more natural than, We live on a
more quiet street than they do. And while I couldnt think
of a single three-or-more-syllable adjective that can take er, there are some two-syllable ones that seem able to
take -er and more equally well. Youre handsomer
than he is and Youre more handsome than he is both
sound about as good to me; so do stupider and more
stupid, cleverer and more clever, subtler and
more subtle, humbler and more humble, gentler
and more gentle, nimbler and more nimble,
mellower and more mellow, shallower and more
shallow, hollower and more hollow, and still others.
To my ear, pleasant is one of these.
But whats the rule that tells us which two-syllable
adjectives not ending in y can take -er and which
cant? As hard as I tried, I couldnt come up with one. Its
true that certain sound patterns seem more likely to
produce such words. Simple, humble, subtle, and
gentle all have the same ending, as do mellow,
shallow and hollow but quiet, handsome,
stupid, clever and pleasant do not. If we say
quieter, why cant we say silenter? And if we can say
nimbler instead of more nimble, why cant we say (we
never would) agiler instead of more agile, or (we
wouldnt either) Farmer Browns land is fallower than
Farmer Joness, just as we say, The water at this end of
the lake is shallower than at that end? Perhaps one of you
can figure it out. I havent been able to.
Can it be that there simply is no rule for the comparative
form of two-syllable adjectives not ending in y, but

simply a relatively small number of such words that can

take -er, each of which has to be learned as a case in
itself from the experience of hearing other people use it?
And is the only reason that pleasanter sounds right to
me and not to Rabbi Hammerman that I have heard others
use it and he hasnt? Or is there some other factor at work
here that I cant put my finger on? If you have any
thoughts about it, let me know.

Read
more: http://forward.com/culture/156377/pleasantpleasanter-and-pleasanter-er/#ixzz47gO7DYUe