# Un comentario más general que.. ( more/ more of...than..)



## ogeido

Hi all!

I've noticed that when in spanish one says something like " Es un* comentario más general que* una respuesta definitiva" , it can be translated into english using both* " more"*  and* " more of " *before the noun as well as * "than"* and _*" rather than"*_ after that same noun (previously modified by " more" or " more of ") . I say this because I've come across these two sentences on the web :


* 1)* It is_ *more of *a general comment *rather than* a definitive answer.

* 2) *It is *more* a general comment *than* a personal one.

_In the examples above, would it be right if I change them into :_

*A)* It is*more *a general comment * than * a definitive answer.

*B)* It is *more *a general comment *rather than* a definitive answer .

*C)* It is *more of* a general comment *rather than* a personal one.

*D)* It is *more of* a general comment *than* a personal one.

_Are all four sentences above correct?, if so, can *more of / more *before a noun and _*( rather) than*_ after it be used in an interchangeable way? or are there any differences in meaning when you use one rather than the other ?._



Thank you in advance.


PS: I know in this case we're talking about comparative phrases.
_


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## AndresTM

I would say,
It was more a general comment than a personal one
Or,
It was a general comment, rather than a personal one

Other alternatives sound either too informal or unnecessarily complicated. 

¡Saludos!


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## ogeido

Thank you Andres for your quick reply!, But what about the other sentences , are they correct?. I know maybe some of them could sound too informal, but inspite of that I would like to know if they can be possible and why the difference ( more + noun/ more of + noun).

Thank you for your input once again.


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## Botitas36

Ogeido, I believe that the word "rather" is unnecessary, but not incorrect, nor does it sound strange to use "rather". In a written text however, many English speakers prefer conciseness over wordiness-- especially in journalism and academia.


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## ogeido

And are there any difference when saying "it's *more of *a general comment than .." and " it's* more* a general comment than ..." ?

Thank you for your good reply Botitas.


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## ogeido

ogeido said:


> And are there any difference when saying "it's *more of *a general comment than .." and " it's* more* a general comment than ..." ?



Would anyone else say something about this please?  , I'm sorry to be so insistent on this but I really want to be sure .

Thank you.


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## Botitas36

ogeido said:


> Would anyone else say something about this please?  , I'm sorry to be so insistent on this but I really want to be sure .
> 
> Thank you.



I would say "it's more of..." is slightly more colloquial or pertains to an everyday register, whereas "it's more a...." is slightly more formal and obviously more concise. If I were writing in a newspaper (I have a B.A. in journalism), I would opt for the second, but just as in the other case, neither is _incorrect._​


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## gengo

ogeido said:


> *1)* It is_ *more of *a general comment *rather than* a definitive answer.
> * 2) *It is *more* a general comment *than* a personal one.
> 
> _In the examples above, would it be right if I change them into :_
> 
> *A)* It is *more *a general comment * than * a definitive answer. __
> *B)* It is *more *a general comment *rather than* a definitive answer. __
> *C)* It is *more of* a general comment *rather than* a personal one.__
> *D)* It is *more of* a general comment *than* a personal one._



The correct constructions are as follows.

1. A is more a B than a C.
2. A is a B, rather than a C.

In 1 we are making a comparison, and saying that A is closer to being like B than it is like C.  In 2 we are making a distinction, and saying that A is a B, and is NOT a C.  That is, A is a B instead of being a C.

Of course, native speakers sometimes make mistakes with these constructions, so you will hear variations.

By the way, I think your original Spanish may be incorrect.

_Es un comentario más general que una respuesta definitiva.

_I would change this to:

_Es __más __un comentario general que una respuesta definitiva._


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## ogeido

gengo said:


> By the way, I think your original Spanish may be incorrect.
> 
> _Es un comentario más general que una respuesta definitiva.
> 
> _I would change this to:
> 
> _Es __más __un comentario general que una respuesta definitiva._


 
Hi Gengo .

it wasn't necessary for you to correct me here because I already knew that . In my original example I was kind of using what I call " non-standard or rather day-to-day spanish " as it is frequently used (at least where I live ), and since my question was not concerned with the correct usage of spanish I didn't attach too much importance to it. Thank you for trying to enlighten me about that anyway .

And also a big thank you to both you and Botitas for your useful input regarding my original question.


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## St. Nick

> _It is *more of* a general comment *than* a personal one._



The reason I wouldn't be satisfied with this construction is because it lacks parallelism:
_
It is more *of* a general comment than [*of*] a personal one. _

See what I mean?

The compound conjunction _"rather than"_ means _"and not."_

_"It is more a general comment, rather than _[and not]_ a personal one."_


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## ogeido

St. Nick said:


> The reason I wouldn't be satisfied with this construction is because it lacks parallelism:
> _
> It is more *of* a general comment than [*of*] a personal one. _
> 
> See what I mean?


 
Yes , I do St.Nick. In fact, to me that sentence particularly sounded like it was lacking something else in order to be totally right and as you explained it was "of ", however , I don't think that " pattern " is used too often ( I guess) so, you will probably say :

"it's more a general comment than a personal one" .

I hope I'm in the right .


Thank you very much for your helpful reply .


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## Danajay

I don't want to add more confusion to the topic, but as an old English teacher I can't resist putting in "un granito de arena."  Ogeido, I believe all of your suggestions (A-D) are perfectly acceptable English.  However, it is preferable not to use both _of_ and _a_ -- "It's more a general comment ..." Regarding _than_ vs _rather than_, both are correct, but _than_ is more common.  So if you say, "It's more a general comment than a personal one," you will get an A+ from me.


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## St. Nick

The conjunction _"than"_ is not the same in meaning as the compound conjunction _"rather than."_

_"Than"_ is used to show unequal comparison.
_"Rather than"_ means _'and not'_ or _'instead.'_


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## ogeido

Danajay said:


> I don't want to add more confusion to the topic, but as an old English teacher I can't resist putting in "un granito de arena."  Ogeido, I believe all of your suggestions (A-D) are perfectly acceptable English.  However, it is preferable not to use both _of_ and _a_ -- "It's more a general comment ..." Regarding _than_ vs _rather than_, both are correct, but _than_ is more common.  So if you say, "It's more a general comment than a personal one," you will get an A+ from me.


 
Hi Danajay,

I think your "granito de arena"  has really helped. It's good to know that at least all of my four examples would sound normal in everyday speech , which (as some have already told me here ) doesn't mean they are all fully correct and that is just what I wanted to know because when learning a foreign language you are to run across many ways of saying or rather conveying a message either formally or informally/colloquially and I find all of those valid because eventually, the important thing is to be able to understand and transmit your thoughts using all the tools a language can offer.

Obviuosly, the correct usage of a language must always be the first and the main option to choose.

to sum up, "It's more a general comment than a personal one," is definitely the pattern that fits better in any context (  knowing why  ) and also the best for me to use if I want to get an A+ from a native english speaker when holding a conversation .

Thank you all very much indeed, you have all helped me a lot with your excellent inputs into the matter.


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## James2000

gengo said:


> The correct constructions are as follows.
> 
> 1. A is more a B than a C.
> 2. A is a B, rather than a C.



Since there seems to be some disagreement among the English speakers here, allow me to add a vote in favour of these two rules.


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## St. Nick

Ogeido, you've had enough courage to stick with it in this thread up to now, so I bet you're brave and energetic enough to answer this question: What part of speech is "more" in your sentence constructions and what word is "more" modifying?

  When you realize the function of "more," you'll be able to draw your own conclusion concerning whether or not using "of" or "rather" is correct.


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## ogeido

St. Nick said:


> Ogeido, you've had enough courage to stick with it in this thread up to now, so I bet you're brave and energetic enough to answer this question: What part of speech is "more" in your sentence constructions and what word is "more" modifying?
> 
> When you realize the function of "more," you'll be able to draw your own conclusion concerning whether or not using "of" or "rather" is correct.



St. Nick, I'm afraid I've been misunderstood from what I've read in your last post above. I haven't said that I'm definitely still sticking to each one of my original examples, as a matter of fact , I do know now and thanks to all the explanations given by each of you taking part in this thread that some aren't grammatically correct and I understand why. Even from the start, I have known what _" more" _is modifying  and what role it plays in the sentences in question , and my decision to set up this thread was because I came across some constructions that I found odd in such context ( using _more of , rather than_ , etc ) and I'm always encountering them on the web, newspaper articles ,etc. so, I set those sentence constructions just to know better and to be sure of what I in the first instance thought possible, and maybe they can sound possible and that answers my earlier questions about why I stumble across them sometimes, but *that* does not mean it is correct and appropriate English and I really know it.

Finally, It's not that I just chose to say "It's more a general comment than a personal one ", because it fits best in every context, definitely not , it's because I have fully understood the part_ " more " _plays here and the great difference caused when adding in _"rather than "_ instead of _" than_" for example , as well as if using _" more of " _and _" than"_ together , they just don't correctly convey the message someone would like to transmit even if it's clearly understood , because the sentence itself  lacks certain coherence so to speak .

I really hope you have understood that I've learnt a great lot thanks to you all and I'm totally in favour of using English in the correct way.

Thank you St.Nick.


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## gengo

Ogeido,
Using the "of" in this context is fairly common, and while strictly speaking it is unnecessary and therefore incorrect, I wouldn't go so far as to call it an outright mistake.

_He is more of a Democrat than a Republican.
It is more of a question of ethics than policy.
Some gays are more of a couple than some married heterosexuals.
_
In each of the above examples, the "of" is superfluous, but it is common to hear such usage.  I would avoid it in formal situations, but I think it's OK in informal usage.


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## ogeido

gengo said:


> Ogeido,
> Using the "of" in this context is fairly common, and while strictly speaking it is unnecessary and therefore incorrect, I wouldn't go so far as to call it an outright mistake.
> 
> _He is more of a Democrat than a Republican.
> It is more of a question of ethics than policy.
> Some gays are more of a couple than some married heterosexuals.
> _
> In each of the above examples, the "of" is superfluous, but it is common to hear such usage.  I would avoid it in formal situations, but I think it's OK in informal usage.



Thank you Gengo, I know they are normally used that's why when opening this thread I asked about the difference between " more of " and " more .." .It's kind of colloquial english I think and I know it is not totally incorrect.
In my previous post I was trying to make clear that I really understood the possible differences and that I finally got the gist of it so to speak.

Thank you for answering once more in order to quell any possible confusion regarding this matter, it's very kind of you.


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## AndresTM

Bear in mind that the _of a _can sound downright annoying to some people in some instances, especially when it is preceded by _too *_:
_Too big of a risk
Too nice of a person
Too good of a thing
_
On the other hand, _too much of a good thing _is correct.


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## ogeido

AndresTM said:


> Bear in mind that the _of a _can sound downright annoying to some people in some instances, especially when it is preceded by _too *_:
> _Too big of a risk
> Too nice of a person
> Too good of a thing
> _
> On the other hand, _too much of a good thing _is correct.



Really ?, I didn't know that , so it should be better to say " too big a risk", " too nice a person" so as to avoid any problems with " of "  even though " _Too big of a risk" ,"Too nice of a person" _ are correct.

thank you Andres.


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## gengo

The examples Andres gives are extremely common, but as he says, people who care about grammar tend to avoid such usage as it is considered incorrect.


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## ogeido

ogeido said:


> Really ?, I didn't know that , so it should be better to say " too big a risk", " too nice a person" so as to avoid any problems with " of "  even though " _Too big of a risk" ,"Too nice of a person" _ are correct.
> 
> thank you Andres.



Sorry, I misread what you just wrote :
 Too nice of a person and too big of a risk are completely wrong ( at least to me ) , at first I read : " too much of a nice person ", "too much of a big risk", which are totally correct, hence my nonsensical reply to your post , ha , ha .

So please, just ignore it


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## AndresTM

Those expressions show up so frequently in colloquial speech that your using them would not be frowned upon, but it's just best to avoid them in written language (or spoken language in formal contexts). There's just no reason to say "too big of a deal" when you know that "too big a deal" sounds better


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## ogeido

AndresTM said:


> Those expressions show up so frequently in colloquial speech that your using them would not be frowned upon, but it's just best to avoid them in written language (or spoken language in formal contexts). There's just no reason to say "too big of a deal" when you know that "too big a deal" sounds better



Yeah, Thank you !


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## Danajay

Hi Ogeido,

You're _more than_ welcome!  I have the same concerns with Spanish.  Your English, by the way, is excellent!!!


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## ogeido

Danajay said:


> Hi Ogeido,
> 
> You're _more than_ welcome!  I have the same concerns with Spanish.  Your English, by the way, is excellent!!!



Thank you for nice words, and you know you can count on me helping you with your Spanish, that's what this forum is all about.


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## St. Nick

_It is more of a general nature than of a personal one.
It is more of a general nature, rather than of a personal one.

—Those two guys are of the same mind.
—In my opinion, they are more of the same ass, rather than of the same mind.

_


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## ogeido

St. Nick said:


> _It is more of a general nature than of a personal one.
> It is more of a general nature, rather than of a personal one.
> 
> —Those two guys are of the same mind.
> —In my opinion, they are more of the same ass, rather than of the same mind.
> 
> _



Thank you for the examples, they certainly help .


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## St. Nick

That's the point I was trying to make, Ogeido.  Because "more" in this context is an adverb meaning 'to a greater extent' that is modifying the linking verb "is," it can be followed either by a subject noun complement, which would not be preceded by the preposition "of," or by a subject adjective complement, which can at times be formed by a prepositional phrase.

Both sides of an equation can be _something (noun or attribute)_ to some degree, but in your examples the left side of the equation is greater in extent.


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## ogeido

St. Nick said:


> That's the point I was trying to make, Ogeido.  Because "more" in this context is an adverb meaning 'to a greater extent' that is modifying the linking verb "is," it can be followed either by a subject noun complement, which would not be preceded by the preposition "of," or by a subject adjective complement, which can at times be formed by a prepositional phrase.
> 
> Both sides of an equation can be _something (noun or attribute)_ to some degree, but in your examples the left side of the equation is greater in extent.



I see, from that standpoint it is more obvious, this must be the same thing as " as much ( of ) ...as (of) where the same situation happens .

Thank you very much for your good attempt at making me understand the point ( I finally did  ). You are very kind.


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