So what is the “hot potato”( a controversial issue) issue of our times? Due to covid-19 millions of people have been forced to leave their neat office and offer their services from home; the so-called remote working. And since the new type of work which was mostly on an experimental level before has become a common practice, there has been an unavoidable torrent of comparisons between traditional office working and remote working.
But is remote work truly more efficient and productive? Here comes the first comparative form in English to assess and contrast the two types. But while the above forms are quite obvious what would you say if you believed that remote working is more pleasant?…or pleasanter ?…or…. probably both. When it comes to the classic comparatives forms in English most speakers of English know of two ways to do English comparatives—adding the word more before an adjective or a word ending –er to it. See which you prefer in (a) and (b) below:
(a)Remote working is more pesky when you need to communicate in real time. (b) Remote working is peskier when you need to communicate in real time.
If you cannot definitively choose between more and –er in (a) and (b) above, you are not alone. You may identify with some who also see the occasional difficulty of deciding between more and –er, and who, as such, spend a good deal of their time trying to determine usage patterns one way or the other.
The comparison as we know it today follows a patterned structure of adding –er to two syllable adjectives and “more” to longer adjectives. This is one kind of truth, however, it is far from flawless, and herewith lies the second truth: many adjectives continue to straddle between more and –er in contemporary times. It is in part true that most of these straddlers have two syllables. There are nonetheless three-syllable adjectives that exercise equal, if not more, fluidity between more and –er than some two-syllable ones. If you agree that cheerfuller sounds a little weird despite the word, cheerful, containing only two syllables, and that untidier sounds as good as more untidy never mind the three syllables in the word, untidy, you get my point!
It may not always be practical to seek a pattern for comparative more and –er deployment, and that sometimes, we simply have to accept that some words are customised for –er, and others, for more, even as those words sound partially alike. In other words as the metaphor says “like attracts like” the extensive use of some “more” adjectives is adopted by many English users and the same goes for “-er” patterns. I would personally call it an urban settlement which is accepted and well understood by interlocutors who simply want to make a straightforward comparison. So be it and embrace it as some uses are just in fashion.
To prove this further I asked some of my Business students to make some comparisons between remote working and office working and here are some true testimonies with true comparisons no matter if they take the “more”, “less”, or the “er” pattern.
Office working:
• It is more expressive and more interactive. People can catch the nuances of facial expressions, gestures, body language, even tone of voice. Verbal communication is likelier or more likely to lead to successful collaboration and understanding.
• Another advantage of office working is that decisions are made in real time. They can be more ad hoc and less formal than email or Skype conversations, which will always have some structure of formality to them. Participants develop ‘exchange relationships,’ in impromptu meetings which are built on informal negotiations, favours, promises or understandings. Such exchange relationships are difficult to develop through the technology.
• On-site employees are also going to develop a better understanding of their roles in their organizations — how they fit in — than off-site employees. They will also be able to understand more completely and deeply the culture of the organization. Employees feel surer / more sure about their immersion into the company’s role.
Remote working
• It gives you the opportunity to me more flexible with your schedule but on the other hand you end up working more because you may fall out of a specific schedule.
• The ambience at home is normally quieter/ more quiet so you may end up with higher concentration levels. You work more focused because you have less distractions but you need more time to complete a task because the
communication and approval steps takes longer. OR even because the communication is more subtle / subtler.
• Remote working makes the team less competitive but this is a natural “collateral damage” as the team is less engaged. The business relationship remains more neutral and simpler/ more simple.
And now it is your turn. Try to think of comparatives to compare, contrast or discuss the differences between remote and office working. Or even other current ambivalent issues. And remember if you get stuck on how to say it then probably both forms are correct!
Article adapted from www.unravellingmag.com by Efi Panagiotopoulou