Quicker or More Quickly? (Grammar Lesson)
The Quick AnswerShould I say quicker or more quickly?
Quicker and more quickly are both acceptable comparative forms of the adverb quickly. However, as some of your grammar-savvy readers might think quicker is an error or too informal, you should opt for more quickly (unless your writing would really benefit from the flow of text offered by quicker).
Of note, it is common misconception that quicker has only recently passed into English as an adverb through common usage and ignorance of the difference between adverbs and adjectives. However, throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, quicker was far more common than more quickly. Only since the 1970s has more quickly overtaken quicker. Both terms are now in common use with more quickly marginally ahead of quicker.
Quick and QuickerQuick is an adjective meaning rapid. The comparative form of quick is quicker. For example:
- Janet is a quick learner, but John is a quicker learner. (Here, the adjective quick modifies the noun learner, and the comparative adjective quicker modifies the noun learner. Both words are adjectives.)
More Quickly and QuickerQuickly is an adverb meaning rapidly. It has two comparative forms, more quickly and quicker. For example:
- Janet learns quickly, but John learns more quickly. (Here, the adverb quickly modifies the verb learns, and the comparative adverb more quickly modifies the verb learns. Both words are adverbs.)
- Janet learns quickly, but John learns quicker. (This time, the comparative adverb quicker modifies the verb learns. This is equally acceptable.)
|Quickly||More Quickly |
Read more about the comparative forms of adverbs.