The Degrees of Comparison

The Degrees of Comparison

Degrees of Comparison

The degree of comparison is a grammatical concept that is related to adjectives and adverbs. It means that adjectives and adverbs are used in three different forms to compare differences between things and actions of the same category. They are positive, comparative, and superlative degrees. Keep in your mind that the degrees of comparison are related to just adjectives and adverbs.

Positive Degree

The positive degree is not used to compare things or actions. It just adds more details to a noun or an action. In simple words, adjectives and adverbs, other than comparative and superlative are positive.

• She is tall.
• He ran fast.

Comparative Degree

The comparative degree is used to compare differences between two things or compare the actions of two objects.

• She is taller than her mother.
• He ran faster than John.

Superlative Degree

The superlative degree is used to compare one noun with the whole group or the action of one object to the actions of the whole group.

• She is the tallest in the class.
• He ran the fastest in the race.

Formation of Comparative and Superlative Degrees

As discussed earlier that the degrees of comparison are related to adjectives and adverbs, so here we discuss how to make comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs.

Comparative Adjectives

We use comparative adjectives when we compare the differences between two objects. To form a comparative degree of an adjective, we add the suffix “-er” or use the words more or less before the adjective. We use the word ‘than’ after comparative adjective when two things are compared.

We add –er to the short adjectives. Short adjectives are one-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending in “y”.

• I am younger than you.
• I am older than your brother.

We use the word more or less before long adjectives. Long adjectives are adjectives that have more than two-syllables or two syllable adjectives that don’t end in “y”.

• She is more beautiful than her mother.
• Her mother is less beautiful than her mother.

                                              

Superlative Adjectives          

We use superlative adjectives when we compare one noun with the whole group or when we want to emphasize that the subject is at the lower or upper end of quality. To form a superlative degree of an adjective, we add the suffix “-est” or use the words most or least before the adjective. Article ‘the’ is used before superlative adjectives except after possessive adjectives.

We add -est to the short adjectives. Short adjectives are one-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending in “y”.

• Tom is the youngest in the class.
• John is the oldest in the class.

We use the word most or least before long adjectives. Long adjectives are adjectives that have more than two syllables or two-syllable adjectives that don’t end in “y”.

• Diya is the most beautiful in our family.
• Seher is the least beautiful in our family.

 

Comparative Adverbs

We use comparative adverbs when we compare the actions of two objects and how they perform. To form a comparative degree of adverb, we add the suffix “-er” or use the words more or less before the adverb. We use ‘than’ after comparative adverbs.

We add –er to one-syllable adverbs.

• He runs faster than me.
• He came later to the class than the teacher.

We use the word more or less before long adverbs. Long adverbs are adverbs that have more than one syllable.

• He drove more carefully than John.
• He answered more lately than Diya.

 

Superlative Adverbs                  

We use superlative adverbs when we compare the action of one object to the actions of the whole group. To form a superlative degree of adverb, we add the suffix “-est” or use the words most or least before the adverb. Article ‘the’ is used before superlative adverbs.

We add –est to one-syllable adverbs.

• Ali jumped the highest.
• Sam arrived the earliest.

We use the word most or least before long adverbs. Long adverbs are adverbs that have more than one syllable

• She sang the most beautifully at the party.
• He presented his topic the most nicely in class.

 

Spelling Changes

When we add the suffix ‘-er’ or ‘est’, some spelling changes take place.

If an adjective or adverb ends in ‘e’, we just add ‘r’ or ‘st’.

Nice ----nicer ---- incest

Large ---- larger ---- largest

Late ---- later ---- latest

Fine ---- Finer ---- Finest

• Our school building is larger than our home.
• Our English teacher is the nicest in the faculty.
• She did finer on the test than her sister.
• She did the finest on the test.

If an adjective or adverb ends in a vowel + a consonant, we double the last consonant and add the suffix ‘-er’ or ‘-est’.

Big ---- bigger ---- biggest

Fat ---- fatter ---- fattest

• Karachi is bigger than Islamabad.
• John is the fattest member of our family.

If an adjective or adverb ends in a consonant + ‘y’, we change ‘y’ into ‘I’ and add the suffix ‘-er’ or ‘-est’.

Happy ---- happier ---- happiest

Silly ---- sillier ----- silliest

Early ---- earlier ---- earliest

                                       

• I judged them. Ali was happier than Diya.
• Tom is the silliest I have ever seen.
• Ali woke up earlier than Diya.
• Ali wakes up the earliest in our family.

 

Comparison of Irregular Adjectives and Adverbs

There are some irregular adjectives and adverbs. Irregular adjectives or adverbs are those that don’t change their forms by adding the suffixes ‘-er or –est’ and the words "more and least". They have their own comparative and superlative degrees.

Good ---- better ---- best

Bad ---- worse ---- worst

Well ---- better ---- best

Badly ---- worse ---- worst

• The black car is better than the red one.
• The black car is the best in this showroom.
• John performed better than Tom.
• George performed the best yesterday.

 

Key Points Related to the Degrees of Comparison   

Ambiguous Comparisons

A comparison that does not clarify what is being compared. It is important to make a comparison that is clear to the reader.

• John got better marks. (Ambiguous)
• John got better marks than Tom. (Clear)

The first example does not make it clear that John got better marks than someone else or that he got better marks than he got before. The second one tells that he got better marks than Tom.

• He can walk faster. (Ambiguous)
• He can walk faster than before. (Clear)

The first example is ambiguous. We know that he can walk faster, but it is not clear that than what he can walk faster. The second sentence tells that he is able to walk faster than before.

 

Comparison of One out of Two

To make a comparative degree of one out of two, the comparison is followed by ‘of the’.

• She is the more intelligent of the two sisters.

 

Describing How Someone or Something Changes

We use two comparatives with ‘and’ to describe how something or someone changes.

• The balloon got bigger and bigger.
• Everything is getting more and more expensive in our country. 

 

Article ‘the’ with the Comparative Degree

We often use the definite article ‘the’ with comparative to show that one thing depends on another.

• The faster you drive your car, the more dangerous it is.
• The higher you climb the mountain, the colder it gets.

 

Formation of Comparison with Both Ways

These are common two-syllable adjectives. To make them comparative, we can either add the suffix ‘-er’ or we can use the words more or less. Similarly, to make them superlative, we can either add the suffix ‘-est’ or use the words most or least.

Handsome                   cruel                     

Gentle                           likely

Common                      narrow               

Pleasant                        polite

Simple                           stupid.

• He is more polite than his brother.
• He is politer than his brother.

 

‘To’ Instead of ‘Than’ with Comparative Adjectives

"To" instead of "than" is used after certain comparative adjectives like senior, junior, prior, preferable, etc.

• Ali is senior to John.
• John is junior to Ali.

 

Comparison of Different Qualities of the Same Person

When we want to compare different qualities of the same person, we use ‘more’ and then positive degree.

• Ali is more wise than fair.

 

Absolute Adjectives

Absolute adjectives are adjectives that can’t be compared. They are incomparable adjectives. Adjectives like perfect, unique, dead, single, complete, empty, final, free, full, ultimate, etc.

• He is the most dead. (Incorrect)
• He is dead. (Correct)