This puzzle turned out to be harder than I expected, so I had to spend more time on it.

When you add -er to certain adverbs, it often means 'more' and creates a comparative form.

Linguists explain that adding -er to a verb or an onomatopoeic sound can convey the sense of doing it frequently.

When you add -er to a verb, it often forms a noun that denotes an instance of the verbal action.

When friends teased him, they added -er to his nickname to make it sound cuter.

In class, kids started adding -er to everyday words as school slang, so 'book' became 'book-er' and 'math' became 'math-er'.

Linguists often point out the -er suffix in dialects, which turns verbs into adjectives to indicate aptitude or a tendency toward an action.

They began calling him Oliver-er after his father, and the nickname stuck.

I was going to, er, tell you about the meeting tomorrow.

She often er when speaking, especially under pressure.