more and more less?

[defrasne]

I am surprised to see that the new English textbooks in France seem to consider that less can be used in front of a one-syllable adjective in a comparative sentence.
Here are examples:
It is less clean than I thought
Chicago is less big than New York
France is less hot than Italy
etc..
What do expert members make of those examples?
Should all such sentences be considered now modern usage?
Thanks a lot.

[Rusty]

I am surprised to see that the new English textbooks in France seem to consider that less can be used in front of a one-syllable adjective in a comparative sentence.
Here are examples:
It is less clean than I thought
Chicago is less big than New York
France is less hot than Italy
etc..
What do expert members make of those examples?
Should all such sentences be considered now modern usage?
Thanks a lot.
You may be confusing less with more.
One-syllable adjectives usually form a comparison of positive degree with -er. Two-syllable adjectives forming a comparison of a negative degree are preceded by more.
Less precedes adjectives of both one and multi-syllable adjectives.
It is more common to say "smaller" rather than "less big." The other examples you give sound natural. Dirtier and cooler could be used instead. It is my opinion that dirtier sounds more severe than less clean, and cooler makes a greater degree of difference in the temperature than less hot.

[defrasne]

Thanks.
Of course I am not confusing more and less.
Still, I find it difficult to like the following sentences:
Chicago is less big than New York.
In December it is less hot than in June.
This car is less fast than mine
etc...
And what about "the less fat of the two"?
Or "the less dear"?

What about "not as big as", "not as hot as", "not as fast as", preferably?
Isn't there a sort of "deficit" in the English language, compared with others, in the sense that with a one-syllable adjective it is extremely uncommon to use
"the less+ adjective" the same way as one can use the+adjective+er or the more+multi-syllable adjective?
And the same would apply to the least+adjective:
Would it not be imposible to say comparing Gates, Rockerfeller and Trump that the latter is "the least rich"? Whereas, naturally, the use of the contrary adjective, "the poorest" would be totally unsuitable?
The same as "the ugliest" would not be an adequate alternative to a very uncommon "the least pretty" (of the three actressses)
Thank you very much for your time.

[Pete]

Thanks.
Of course I am not confusing more and less.
Still, I find it difficult to like the following sentences:
Chicago is less big than New York.
In December it is less hot than in June.
This car is less fast than mine
etc...
And what about "the less fat of the two"?
Or "the less dear"?

What about "not as big as", "not as hot as", "not as fast as", preferably?
Isn't there a sort of "deficit" in the English language, compared with others, in the sense that with a one-syllable adjective it is extremely uncommon to use
"the less+ adjective" the same way as one can use the+adjective+er or the more+multi-syllable adjective?
And the same would apply to the least+adjective:
Would it not be imposible to say comparing Gates, Rockerfeller and Trump that the latter is "the least rich"? Whereas, naturally, the use of the contrary adjective, "the poorest" would be totally unsuitable?
The same as "the ugliest" would not be an adequate alternative to a very uncommon "the least pretty" (of the three actressses)
Thank you very much for your time.
I don't see a thing wrong with,
- Yes, they're all rich, but he's the least rich of the bunch.
As you say, "poorest" would not do at all.

I understand that because richer and richest exist, it is uncommon to use more rich and most rich. However, I don't think any such custom carries over to less and least.

I agree that in one-against-one comparisons, "not as rich as" is much more common than "less rich than", but I don't think that makes the latter wrong.