More healthfully or healthier ???
Hi, Im lost! What is the best way to use grammatically : More healthfully or I need to change the adverb to an adjective. Healtier ??
Thank you
8 Answers
Group 1:
The words "healthy", "healthier", and "healthiest" are typically adjectives, but may sometimes also be used as adverbs. For the examples here, they are used as adjectives.
They describe a noun such as "diet", "person", or "lifestyle" among others.
These words describe the current state of health.
Examples:
John, Jim, and Tom are healthy.
Jim is healthier than John.
Of the three, Tom is the healthiest.
Group 2:
The words "healthful", "more healthful", and "most healthful" are typically adjectives, but may sometimes also be used as adverbs. For the examples here, they are used as adjectives.
They are used in much the same way as the first group. Though, the meaning is slightly different.
These words describe how a thing is according to choices made.
Examples:
John, Jim, and Tom have healthful lifestyles.
Jim has a more healthful lifestyle than Tom.
Of the three, John has the most healthful lifestyle.
Group 3:
The words "healthfully", "more healthfully", and "most healthfully" are adverbs.
They are used to describe a verb such as "live" or "eat".
It would be possible to use them with other verbs as well, but not very common.
Examples:
John, Jim, and Tom live healthfully.
Jim lives more healthfully than Tom.
Of the three, John lives most healthfully.
"Lead a healthful life." and "Live healthfully." both mean exactly the same thing. Being a healthful person is all about the choices made. Being healthy is not always possible because of illness, disease, accidents, old age, and so on.
I do not believe that "healthfully" is in common use. Most English-speakers tend to use "healthier" than "more healthful". These two "healthful" and "healthier" can be used in the same way:
more healthful A diet of vegetables and fruits is more healthful than a diet of only meat.
healthier A diet of vegetables and fruits is healthier than a diet of only meat.
Well thank you. i don't use this word. It is because there is an exercise on Top Noch book 3 which mentions to do a comparative form to the adverb healthfully. It says that we must change it to HEALTHIER. I wondering that it means the same or grammatically correct.
Your book is not correct. The correct comparative to the adverb healthfully is more healthfully, and the superlative is most healthfully.
As has been pointed out admirably elsewhere in this post, healthfully is not a commonly used adverb. However, that does not make it incorrect to use it. In fact, you could use it correctly and be proud of it. ¡ Domina el idioma!
Despite what some of the responders have said, I consistently (and stubbornly) distinguish between "healthy" hand "healthful". Many years ago in one of those books for people who like to agonize over the niceties of English (whether vocabulary or grammar) which stated emphatically that 'healthy" meant having/enjoying good health while "healthful" meant producing (or conducive to/of) good health.
I discussed the matter with my brother the (now retired) English professor and he agreed that, in principal, that should be the distinction. Nonetheless, over the years, he has continued to use "healthy" where I would use "healthful". He always adds a footnote to our conversations to acknowledge our disagreement but he persists in this usage. For the most part he and I use English in the same way (the way that we were taught by our (even more retired) English professor mother but on this point he is obdurate (as am I).
That said, my impression is that the overwhelming majority of Americans (U.S)) rarely use "healthful" and when they do they make no distinction between it and "healthy".
I don't agree with the Top Notch book. I hear sentences like "She eats healthier than he does.", but I would prefer, pedantic as it sounds, "She eats more healthfully...." The sentence could be rewritten as "She eats more healthful foods..." or simply "Her diet is better...." There's no obligatory conversion of "more healthful" to "healthier", and I wouldn't allow it at all except in very informal speech.
Well thank you. i dont use this word. It is because there is an exercise on Top Noch book 3 which mention to do a comparative form to the adverb healthfully. It says that we must change it to HEALTHIER. I wondering that it means the same or grammatically correct.
Thank you. I cant remember the use of comparatives on adverbs. So in this case, this adverb changes to an adjective to make the comparison? I cant say more healthfully, sounds weird though
"Healthy" is a good adjective; something that is better (more nutritious, even more conducive to long life) is healthier than that which is only healthy. "Healthful" is an excellent adjective (healthful foods are good for you, e.g.) and means much the same as healthy except: "healthy" can be applied to any person, animal or other object which is either in good health or of a great size. Neither lends itself well to conversion to an adverb. Usually, you would just add "ly" but for both of these, it is clumsy to pronounce and sounds silly. Just don't use them as adverbs. Use a phrase instead combined with "more" to form the comparative, e.g., "I want to eat a more healthful diet", "You need to have a more healthy regimen." You start to get into difficulty when you try to take it even a little further as in "I want to eat more healthfully" being changed to "I want to eat healthfullerly". Stick with using extra words to help express these comparatives and adverbs. 
