More Important vs. More Importantly

Posted by R. Berg on May 08, 2003

In Reply to: More Important vs. More Importantly posted by S. on May 08, 2003

: Supposedly, both are standard, but it seems to me that the latter is the grammatically correct one. Am I mistaken?

: Thanks for any opinions.

This is my opinion: You're right, you are mistaken. You're welcome.

To modify a whole statement, "more important" is the one to choose. "Importantly" means "in an important manner," and "more importantly" should therefore be confined to sentences like "When a reporter was present, the members of the city council walked into the meeting more importantly than usual." At least that's what I was taught. When there's no "more" and we use a single word to modify a whole statement, however, we say "Importantly," not "Important." These two rules don't combine well, logically speaking.

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