more
People say "more" when they want additional content, greater quantity, or something to continue. It is one of the simplest requests in everyday speech.
What a model may hear
- pagination command Unix/Linux terminal
- wait for a keypress and show the next screen of output
- increment operator programming (C, C++, Java, etc.)
- treat as part of ++ or += and attempt arithmetic
- comparison operator mathematics and many programming languages
- interpret as the greater-than side of an inequality
- Moore's Law or Moore bound computer science and graph theory
- associate with doubling rates or graph diameter bounds
- MORE instruction set embedded systems and microcontrollers
- look for a specific processor extension or mode bit
Where people and models part ways
“more”
Meant: keep talking, give me additional content
May be taken as: halt and wait for a keystroke as the Unix pager does, or append to a variable
Say instead: “continue or tell me more about that”
“more examples”
Meant: I want a longer list
May be taken as: enter a pager loop or truncate output at a screen boundary
Say instead: “give me ten more examples without stopping”
“more than that”
Meant: a greater quantity or intensity
May be taken as: evaluate a boolean comparison or return an error if no numeric operands exist
Say instead: “a larger amount or a longer explanation”
“learn more”
Meant: provide deeper information on a topic
May be taken as: link to or invoke a documentation pager rather than generating content
Say instead: “explain this in more depth”
Tips
- Avoid using 'more' alone as a command; say 'continue' or 'go on' instead
- When you want additional items, specify the count: 'five more' not just 'more'
- Do not use 'more' with file names unless you mean the Unix pager; say 'show me the contents of'
- Replace 'more or less' with 'approximately' to avoid boolean confusion
- In code contexts, say 'increase by' rather than 'more' to avoid operator misreading
Often confused with
- most
- superlative degree, not a request to continue
- less
- opposite direction, also a Unix pager with different behavior
- further
- implies depth or distance, not quantity
- additional
- unambiguous synonym with no command-line history
- extra
- casual, carries no pager or operator baggage
- ++
- explicit increment operator, not an English request