The Degrees of Comparison
Degrees of comparison
The degrees 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
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
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
Superlative degree is used to compare one noun with the whole group or an 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.
Comparativeadjectives
We use comparative adjectives when we compare the differences between two objects. To form comparative degree of adjective, we add the suffix “-er” or use the words more or less before adjective. We use 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 lower or upper end of a quality. To form superlative degree of adjective, we add the suffix “-est” or use the words most or least before 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 that how they perform. To form comparative degree of adverb, we add the suffix “-er” or use the words more or less before 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 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 an action of one object to the actions of the whole group. To form superlative degree of adverb, we add the suffix “-est” or use the words most or least before 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 the 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 in the test than her sister.
- She did the finest in 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 in 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 car in this showroom.
- John performed better than Tom.
- George performed the best yesterday.
Key points related to the degrees of comparison
Ambiguous comparisons
Comparison that does not clear what is being compared. It is important to make 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 he got better marks than he got before. The second one clearly 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 clearly tells that he is able to walk faster than before.
Comparison of one out of two
To make comparative degree of one out of two, the comparison is followed by ‘of the’.
- She is more intelligent of the two sisters.
Describing how someone or something changes
We use two comparatives with ‘and’ to describe that how something or someone changes.
- The balloon got bigger and bigger.
- Everything is getting more and more expensive in our country.
Article ‘the’ with comparative degree
We often use 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)
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