Winner or sinner :)

[Tamara]

Hi

As I understand, 'He is sinful' = He is a sinner’, right?

So, sinner is a normal dictionary word, derivative from 'sin' + 'er', where the suffix has the same meaning as in 'winner' (and not as in 'bigger' )
And 'sinful' is an adjective.
That’s OK.

I just want to say that when I first met the - informally said - phrase (I don’t remember it exactly) like
'He is more sinner than me.', my first thought was that 'sinner' is a comparative. I don't know, why

Anyway, what comparative do you use in the case?
(To me, 'more sinful' would sound extremely strange…)

P.S. Or from the religious attitude the degree just doesn't matter in this case?
_________________
It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…

[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

I would say: He is more of a sinner than I am or He is a greater sinner than I am or He has committed more sins than I have.

Just on the matter of sins, allow me to give a quick shot of Shakespeare:

King Lear: I am a man more sinned against than sinning.

A
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Womens' Day

[Tamara]

Hi Alan

Thanks!

[Alan]

Hi,

No, I don't think you can. Bill might have got away with it but not the rest of us.

A
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Colour Idioms