Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Marlen]

Hello,

I wondered if you could help me with the following:
Is it correct to say: a)The story has too much moral.
and is it b) equally good as : The story is too moralistic.

Thanks a lot in advance for your assistance.

Marlen

[acadman]

Hello Marlen,
"The story is too moralistic" is much better.
The main problem with the first sentence is that "morality" is an adjective, but "too much" is a kind of determiner normally used before nouns (e.g. "too much food", "some apples", "a few cars"). The noun form of "moral" is "morality". So saying "The story has too much morality" would be correct, and equally as good as "The story is too moralistic".
I hope this helps.
_________________
Bruce Sommerville
English Tuition On-Line
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/acadman/