I rarely come upon adjectives being used strangely in comparative constructions.
Take the adjective "silent", sometimes I hear "more silent" and "most silent" although it isn't logical in any sense. Silent means without any sound. Furthermore, this Wikipedia page says that there exist "silenter" and "silentest" which I've never met or heard.
Now, if we take the adjective "impossible" that means not able to occur, exist, or be done. The comparative forms are "more impossible" and "most impossible" which again doesn't make any sense.
Now, my question is, how are these forms used in modern English and why is it sometimes preferred to use the comparative form instead of a comparative form of an antonym?
- It is less noisy in here instead of It is more silent in here.
- It is less possible to get in through the backdoor instead of It is more impossible to get in through the backdoor.
Then again for some adjectives there are synonyms:
- Less expensive = cheaper.
- More educated = smarter.
Best Answer
Words that have absolute meanings at the end of a gradable scale (as in silence meaning an absolute absence of sound) are sometimes used to emphasise or exaggerate the extent of something, especially informally. If it is an exaggeration it won't be used literally, so won't be at the absolute extreme end of a scale, so could be used comparatively. If it is used for emphasis, a gradable descriptor may be added to make it even more emphatic.
Some such words could also be considered a class in and of themselves, within which things can be graded. For example, take impossible. Out of two things that are impossible, it may be the case that one is conceptually harder to achieve than the other. In this circumstance, it makes some sense to grade the level of impossibility.
For example:
Both actions are impossible, but one is conceptually more difficult to achieve than the other. Stating it as "more impossible" is a succinct way of stating this.