"more" pure" and "purer"

[Thu Huong]

Dear all,
I'm reading something about American culture. In my materials, I have this sentence, "They wanted the Church to be more pure. These people were called Puritans". I'm wondering why the author used" more pure" instead of "purer"? Is there any difference between these two ways of comparison? I'm looking forward to receiving your explanation. Thank you so much in advance and wish you all the best!

[Chaya]

I know it sounds strange to you because 'pure' is a one-syllable word. I imagine it is because of the two 'r' sounds that 'more pure' is used instead of 'purer.' However, we also say 'more fun' instead of 'funner.' 'Funner' sounds funny to me! :D

[Cerberus™]

There is no difference in meaning. Some words get "-er", some get "more", there are some rules of thumb for this but I shouldn't worry about it too much. Longer words have less chance of getting "-er".

I believe "funner" is not used because "fun" is not really an adjective, or at least it wasn't.

[Thu Huong]

Hi all,
I agree that we can't say "funner" because "fun" is a noun. But I'm still confused about "pure". If I say "purer", is it wrong?

[Chaya]

'Purer' is fine to say. I just googled 'purer' and 'more pure' and all of the listings had the word 'purer' in it.

The word 'fun' can also function as an adjective: It was a fun experience. It was more fun to go to the beach than to the mountains.