As discussed under Alma 43:24, the original text sometimes used the periphrastic comparative “more ” in cases where we expect the inflectional ending -er. Here in 3 Nephi 5:9, the original text reads “a more short but a true account”. The 1920 LDS edition changed more short to the standard shorter. The critical text will restore the earlier more short. Besides the examples of this usage listed under Alma 43:24, here is another example:
Here the comparative more includes both great and terrible; to express the same in standard English, we would be required to change great to greater and to add more before terrible: “there was a greater and more terrible destruction”. This emendation has been avoided, with the result that “a more great and terrible destruction” remains in 3 Nephi 8:12.
One further example of an unexpected periphrastic comparative in the text is more angry (which is found in Alma 10:24, Alma 25:1, and Alma 55:1). In contrast, there are no instances of angrier or angriest in the Book of Mormon, although Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary lists these inflectional forms as the standard. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that there are examples of the standard comparative for some adjectives in the original text, such as stronger (with six instances) but none of more strong. Yet for the superlative form, there are three instances of strongest but one of most strong in the original text (see the discussion under Alma 49:20).
Summary: Restore in 3 Nephi 5:9 the original periphrastic comparative more short, the reading of the earliest textual sources; there is considerable evidence for such usage with other adjectives in the original text, although there are also examples of the regular inflectional ending -er.