'Play a more and more significant role' vs. 'play more and more a significant role'

Question

I am a bit confused about which of the following two sentences are correct.

[A] Education plays a more and more significant role in people's lives.

[B] Education plays more and more a significant role in people's lives.

Are both of these sentences ok?

A is natural. B is definitely not natural, and may not even be grammatical. Sounds awful — gotube, Sep 2, 2021 at 6:18
In this sentence, the thing that's continually increasing is the adjective "significant", so "more and more" modifies "significant" and must go directly before it. If it's before the noun phrase "a significant role", then it modifies the whole noun phrase, which makes no sense. — gotube, Sep 3, 2021 at 6:49

bak1936 · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-02 05:48:14Z

1

[A] Education plays a more and more significant role in people's lives.

[B] Education plays more and more a significant role in people's lives.

It is different depending on a situation. Also both are correct.

In A case, the adverb phrase "more and more" modifies an adjective "significant"

In B case, the adverb phrase "more and more" modifies an main verb "play"

answered Sep 2, 2021 at 5:48

bak1936

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[B] is certainly understandable, but I cannot imagine a native speaker saying it.
– Jeffrey Carney
Sep 2, 2021 at 5:51
What's wrong with B? Please explain precisely.
– Sandip Kumar Mandal
Sep 3, 2021 at 4:18

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Wonder · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-02 06:35:26Z

-1

Both of these sentences sound weird to me. I do not think there is any need to add "more and more".

You can possibly rephrase it as "Education is of greater significance in people's lives now."

OR

"Education plays a more significant role in people's lives now".

I have added the word "now" to show comparison with the past.

answered Sep 2, 2021 at 6:35

Wonder

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Removing "more and more" (which is a perfectly standard phrase in English even if it's unfamiliar to you) and adding "now" at the end changes the meaning of the sentence. "Education plays a more and more significant role" means that the influence of education is still increasing whereas "Educatìon plays a more significant role now" expresses the concept that the significance of the role has increased from what it was in the past but does not suggest that the role is continuing to increase at the present time.
– BoldBen
Sep 2, 2021 at 7:03
@BoldBen I'm aware of the phrase "more and more" but in the given sentence, it doesn't sound nice to me.
– Wonder
Sep 2, 2021 at 8:25
There is no wrong in using the adverb phrase 'more and more" in this sentence. There's of course difference in meaning between 'more' & 'more and more'.
– Sandip Kumar Mandal
Sep 3, 2021 at 4:15

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2 Answers 2