More quickly or quicker?

[Andreana]

Hello,

I often read phrases such as 'you can do that quicker' or 'this will calm you down quicker'.
According to the grammar books this wrong - it should be 'you can do that more quickly' and 'this will calm you down more quickly', shouldn't it?

Maybe, the first is American and the second British English? Anyway, it's confusing. Please, shed some light :)
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[Alan]

Hi,

Yes, you're right - according to the grammar books it should be 'more quickly' but then in speech 'quicker' is less of a mouthful than 'more quickly' and so it has now passed into common use. There is one expression where this is now widespread: The quicker you do it, the better or as it is shortened to: the quicker, the better.

Hope this helps

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Andreana]

Hi Alan,

Thank you very much for your quick response and for responding so quickly :)
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A smile will open doors ;-)

[Andtrans]

Hello,

At present I'm working on the translation of an advertising leaflet into English.

I'm also having trouble rendering the comparative form of the adverb "quick" into good English, as I've heard many English native speakers use the form "quicker" rather than "more quickly". Even if the from "quicker" is in common usage in speech now - which form would you prefer in written English?

A friend of mine (English native speaker) said that "quicker" was more common, and she even looked this form up in the Cambridge International Dictionary ... Do you think a sentence like "Online media spread information much quicker than traditional advertising media" in a leaflet sounds like standard English?

Many thanks in advance!

[Alan]

Hi Andtrans,

I would personally stick to 'more quickly' in what strikes me as a 'formal' type of sentence. You would use 'much quicker' more naturally this way: The spread of information by online media was much quicker than by traditional advertising media.

Alan
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[Gray]

As Alan said earlier, the other point is the ease with which the word can be spoken -- 'more succinct' versus 'succincter'.
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First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English

[AmYankee]

Hi Andtrans

The word quick is an adjective which is also frequently used in spoken or informal English as an adverb. For something such as an advertising leaflet, however, I agree with Alan: you should stick with the more traditional, formal grammar rules. In your sentence you need an adverb, so quickly would be the better choice. The comparative form is more quickly.

The alternative wording that Alan suggested uses quicker as a comparative adjective, not as an adverb. So that follows traditional grammar rules as well.

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- Amy -
ESL teacher, translator, native speaker of American English