Don't make me no nevermind, write neater

[Benjamin Barrett]

Ask Amy is running old columns as a break. Two days over the past week have involved grammar.

1. In http://www.denverpost.com/askamy/ci_23651025/dont-make-no-nevermind-about-good-grammar-7, she gets corrected on "It don't make no nevermind to me" to "It don't make me no nevermind." Ask Amy fesses up to her mistake, describing it as a hypercorrection (my word not hers).

2. In another, a parent complains of a teacher's bad grammar (http://www.denverpost.com/askamy/ci_23621373/ask-amy-time-pack-up-and-get-out). Ask Amy fails to notice that the grammar in question isn't actually bad. The issue is the comparative adverb form of adjectives that take -er in the comparative. The rule is that either the comparative form or "more" + the -ly form can be used. (So both "eat slower" and "eat more slowly" are correct.)

The complaining parent says that "writer neater" is grammatically incorrect. Whether this will become a de facto rule will be worth watching. (And what people do with "faster" will be interesting, too.)

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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