EKO SUDARDI, S.

Pd
DEGREES OF COMPARISON

The Degrees of Comparison in English grammar are made with the Adjective and Adverb
words to show how big or small, high or low, more or less, many or few, etc., of the qualities,
numbers and positions of the nouns (persons, things and places) in comparison to the others
mentioned in the other part of a sentence or expression.
An Adjective is a word which qualifies (shows how big, small, great, many, few, etc.) a noun
or a pronoun is in a sentence.
An adjective can be attributive (comes before a noun) or predicative (comes in the predicate
part):
e.g. He is a tall man. (tall adjective attributive)
This man is tall. (tall adjective predicative)
An Adverb is a word which adds to the meaning of the main verb (how it is done, when it is
done, etc.) of a sentence or expression.
It normally ends with ly, but there are some adverbs that are without ly:
e.g. She ate her lunch quickly. He speaks clearly. They type fast.
Kinds of comparison:

1. POSITIVE DEGREE: Tom is a tall boy.

In this sentence the word tall is an adjective telling us how Tom is. There is no other person
or thing in this sentence used to compare Tom with, but it is the general way of saying about
persons, animals and things that they have some quality (here tallness) above average in
general sense. The adjective word tall is said to be in the positive form.
This comparison is called positive degree comparison.
There are two more comparisons with the positive form of the adjective words. They are:
(i) Degree of Equality: This comparison is used to compare two persons, animals or things
to tell us that they are equal having the same quality.
There are two cats with the same height and weight, and look the same except for the
colour.
Therefore we say:
The brown cat is as beautiful as the grey cat. (= Both the cats are the same.)

The word beautiful is an adjective in the positive form, and with the conjunction asas
it expresses the degree of equality.
(ii) Degree of Inequality: This comparison is used to compare two persons, animals or
things to tell us that they are not equal not having the same quality.
The brown cat is not as beautiful as the black & white cat.

(= They are not the same.)

The word beautiful is an adjective in the positive form, and with the conjunction soas
(and the negative not) it expresses the degree of inequality
2. COMPARATIVE DEGREE:

Tom is a tall boy.

Tom is taller than his sister.

In the second sentence the word taller is an adjective used to compare the tallness of these
two persons Tom and his sister and to tell us that Tom has more of the quality of
tallness.
Therefore, an adjective word which shows the difference of quality between twotwo groups
of persons, animals or things is said to be in the comparative form. persons, animals or
things, or
This comparison is called Comparative Degree.
There are two more degrees of comparison with the comparative form of an adjective. They
are:
(i) Parallel Degree: This comparison is used to show that the qualities of two items
(adjectives or adverbs) talked about in the given sentence go parallel, i.e. if one quality
(adjective or adverb) increases, the other quality (adjective or adverb) increases, and if one
quality decreases, the other quality also decreases.

The bigger the box, the heavier it is.

(ii) Progressive Degree: This comparison is used to show that the quality of a thing
(adjective or adverb) talked about in the given sentence increases as the time passes, for
example:
MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

25 27 30 33 35 38 40

SAT

SUN

Its getting hotter and hotter day by day. [as the time passes the temperature increases] OR
The days are getting hotter and hotter.
3. SUPERLATIVE DEGREE:

A musk ox is a large animal.

An elephant is larger than a musk ox.

The blue whale is the largest of all animals.

The blue whale is the largest of all animals in the world.
In this sentence the word (the) largest is an adjective used to compare the largeness of the
blue whale and to tell us that the blue whale has the most quality of largeness.
This comparison is used to compare one person, animal or thing with more than two
persons, animals or things (the rest of the group of more than two), and to say that the
particular one has the highest degree of that
particular quality (here the comparison is
between the blue whale and the rest of the animals, more than two). The adjective large is
said to be in the superlative form.
This comparison is called Superlative Degree.
______________
The next point to be considered is the forms of the adjectives and adverbs.
There are three forms positive form, comparative form and superlative form and seven
degrees of comparison. That means we make seven degrees of comparison using the three
forms of almost every adjective or adverb word. Therefore, it is important for us to discuss
the forms before going any further into this topic.
Most adjective or adverb words in their positive form take er to change to comparative and
est to change to superlative form. However, the words ending in e take only r to change
to comparative form and only st to change to superlative form. And there are other
differences with words having different spelling.
The meaning of an adjective or adverb in Comparative and Superlative form does not
change; it is only the form that is changed but not the meaning.
Therefore, depending on the spelling, the adjective or adverb words are separated into groups
so that we can memorise the spellings of the words in their different forms easily.
Positive comparative superlative
a) the words which end in e belong to his group and take only r in comparative form
and st in superlative form:
brave braver the bravest

large larger the largest

wise wiser the wisest
b) the words which end in any letter other than e and/or y belong to this group and take
er in comparative form and est in superlative from:
sweet sweeter the sweetest
tall taller the tallest
young younger the youngest
c) the words which end in y preceded by a consonant belong to this group; they lose the last
letter y and take ier in the comparative form and iest in superlative form:
happy happier the happiest
easy easier the easiest
heavy heavier the heaviest

The words which end in y preceded by a vowel, however, do not change their spelling
but take r/er in
comparative form and st/est in superlative form: e.g. gay gayer gayest (this word is
now considered old-fashioned in the sense of happy; excited, and in the present day English
it is used for male homosexual).
d) the words which end in a consonant having a vowel before that consonant belong to
this group, and have their last consonant letter doubled before taking er in comparative
form and est in superlative form:
red redder the reddest
thin thinner the thinnest
hot hotter the hottest
e) the words which have two or more vowel sounds in them belong to this group, and take
the word more before them in comparative form and the word (the) most in superlative
form:
beautiful

more beautiful

the most beautiful

difficult

more difficult

the most difficult

splendid

more splendid

the most splendid

f) the words in this group do not take any suffix or any other word before them, but change
their spelling and pronunciation entirely to form new words with the same meaning, of
course:
good/well better the best
bad/evil/ill worse the worst
little less/lesser* the least
much more the most
many more the most
late later/latter* the latest/last*
old older/elder* the oldest/eldest*
far farther the farthest
fore former the foremost/first*
fore further the furthest
in inner the inmost/inner most
up upper the upmost/uppermost
out outer/utter the utmost/utter most
There are some words in the list that take more than one form in comparative and superlative
form.
Each of the two words gives a different meaning; therefore, it is best to know them well
before going any further in this topic.

Late later, latter; latest, last; old elder, older; eldest, oldest
Far farther, further; farthest, furthest; near nearest, next
Later, latter; latest, last
Later and latest refer to time
Latter and last refer to position
e.g. He is later than I expected.
(recent news)

(he has come late)

I have not heard the latest news.

The latter chapters of the book are interesting. (order of position)

The last chapter is bad. (order of position)
[Suppose there are ten chapters in a book, the latter chapters could be
Chapters 7,8,9 & 10; the last chapter is chapter 10. latter is also used
to talk about the second of the two people or things mentioned.]
The word latter is, strictly speaking, used for only two persons or things; however, it is also
used for three persons or things, as in the latter of the three, but in American English.
Elder, older; eldest, oldest
Elder and eldest are used only of persons seniority than age.
(they are used with members of the same family.)
** Elder is not used with conjunction than.
Older and oldest are used of both persons and things time (age)
e.g. John is my elder brother. Ahmed is his eldest son. (family relation seniority)
Tom is older than his sister. (of people family relation age)
Sarah is the oldest girl in the class.

(of people no family relation age)

Town Hall is the oldest building in our town. (of things age)
Tom is older than his sister. so Tom is her elder brother. and She is his younger
sister.
There are, however, some occasions where older and oldest are used for showing the
seniority of members of the same family. Here we have a good example:
Less/lesser
These two words are the comparative forms of the word little.
The difference is: less suggests amount, and lesser suggests degree showing
some negative sense in a choice of two!
For example,
She has less money than he (has).
Which is the lesser of the two evils, drinking or smoking?

[Both drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco are evils, but wed like to compare and
decide which one is more harmful more negative -- in this choice of two!]

Grammar - degrees of comparison

Adjectives of one syllable
Adjectives of one syllable add -er and -est.
Adjectives ending on 'e' just add -r and -st.
Some adjectives double the final consonant.
1.

Adjective
small
warm
old
nice
big

Comparative
smaller
warmer
older
nicer
bigger

Superlative
smallest
warmest
oldest
nicest
biggest

2. Adjectives of two syllables

Some adjectives of two syllables add -er and -est.
Adjectives ending in 'y' use -ier and -iest.
Adjectives ending in -ful, -less, -ing, -ed use more and most.
Some other adjectives of two syllables use more and most (modern,
famous, normal, correct, ...).
Adjective
narrow
happy
useful
boring
modern

Comparative
narrower
happier
more useful
more boring
more modern

Superlative
narrowest
happiest
most useful
most boring
most modern

3. Adjectives of three or more syllables

Adjectives of three or more syllables use more and most.
Adjective
beautiful
dangerous
exciting

Comparative
more beautiful
more dangerous
more exciting

Superlative
most beautiful
most dangerous
most exciting

4. Irregular adjectives

You will have to learn these by heart.

Adjective

Comparative

Superlative

good (well)
bad
little
much, many
far
late
old

better
worse
less
more
farther, further
later
older, elder

best
worst
least
most
farthest
last, latest
older, oldest

And their superlative terms, by getting most before them.

Examples:
Beautiful..........more beautiful..........most beautiful
Effective.more effectivemost effective
Effectivelymore effectively.most effectively
Enjoyable.more enjoyable.most enjoyable
Useful.more useful..most useful
Different..more differentmost different
Honest..more honest..most honest
Qualifiedmore qualifiedmost qualified
Few adjectives and adverbs get their Comparative forms by simply getting er after them
and their superlative terms, by getting est after them.
Examples:
Hard..harder..hardest
Big.bigger.biggest
Tall..tallertallest
Longlongerlongest
Short..shorter.shortest
Costlycostliercostliest
Simple.simpler.simplest