Question
Updated on
22 Sep 2021
- Russian
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
Can we say “better than “ instead of “more than” I have heard it in song , can we ?
Can we say “better than “ instead of “more than” I have heard it in song , can we ?
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- English (US)
“More than” is used to compare quantities as well as quality.
“Better than” is not used to compare quantities.
Examples:
- I love pizza more than hamburgers.
- I love pizza better than hamburgers.
Since that is not a comparison of quantity or amount, both sound good.
- Five hundred is more than one hundred.
Since this is a quantity comparison, you cannot use “better than.”
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- Russian
- English (US)
Yes, "better than" can mean the same as "more than".
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/better-than (definition #2)
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- Russian
@comosedice person above said that (“better than” is not used to compare quantities) is he wrong ? And thank you so much
- English (US)
@why_not_1 The primary meaning of "better than" is what @KHMitchell said. The secondary meaning is not. "Better than" can and does mean "more than", for comparing quantities, when that is the intent. (as the linked definition says, this usage is considered less formal than "more than" by some language authorities)
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- Russian
- English (US)
@comosedice - Yes, thank you for correcting me! I didn’t think it through.
You can say, “500 is better than 100,” but it doesn’t mean the same as “500 is more than 100.”
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- English (US)
@why_not_1 @KHMitchell A few examples of how "better than" may be used to mean "more than" :
I can't believe it. There are better than 10,000 people in the stadium.
It took me hours to read that report. It was better than 500 pages long!
It was a long drive. Springfield is better than 250 miles from Newtown.
It was quite a brain-fest. There were better than 15 Nobel laureates at the conference.
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