Archives for April 2003

Perfect

15 April 2003

The American Heritage Dictionary (second college edition), includes the following note on usage:

Perfect has traditionally been considered an absolute term, like chief and prime, and not subject to to comparison with more, less, almost, and other modifiers of degree. The comparative form nonetheless has the sanction of the U.S. Constitution, in the phrase a more perfect union, and must be regarded as entirely correct....

After all, who are we to argue with Thomas Jefferson?