Presentation. Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives

Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives

What is the Adjective

An adjective  is a part of speech that describes a person, an object, a place or an animal.

Example :  tall ,  smart ,  hot ,  long ,  old ,  big .

A comparative adjective   compares two things .

Adjective change in form when they show comparison.

Positive Degree:  An adjective is said to be in the positive degree when there is no comparison.

Comparative Degree:  An adjective is said to be in the comparitive degree when it is used to compare two nouns/pronouns.

Superlative Degree:  An adjective is in superlative degree when it is used to compare more than two nouns/pronouns. We use the article 'the' before the superlative degrees.

Formation of Comparative & Superlative Degrees of Adjectives

Adjectives usually form their comparative and superlative degrees:

For the formation of a comparative degree, the word more is placed before the adjective, and before the superlative degree-the most.

Example:

Honest –  more  honest –  the most  honest

Difficult –  more  difficult –  the most  difficult

Russian is difficult to learn. – Arabic is  more difficult . – What is  the most difficult  language to learn?

Note that in some adjectives there will be a doubling of the last consonant.

Example : Big – big ger  –  the  big gest

Hot – hot ter  –  the  hot test

Example:

The weather in Spain is  cold  – in Russia it is  colder  – in the Arctic it is  the coldest .

This house is  big  – this one is  bigger  – and that one is  the biggest .

Example :

Ice-cream is  better  than cakes.

Buses are  cheaper  than planes.

A superlative form   compares more than two things .

Example :

Peter is  the tallest  in his family.

You are  the smartest  in your class.

Let’s see the next example:  Jane is a  smart  girl.

Note : we use  than , when we compare two things.

Comparative : Jane is  smarter  than  her sister.

Superlative : Jane is the  smartest  in her class.

Depending on the number of syllables in a word, the comparative and superlative adjectives are formed in two different ways.

Thus, monosyllabic adjectives form degrees of comparison using the endings-er (for the comparative degree) and-est (for the superlative degree).

Don't forget the article the before the superlative of adjectives.

Example : Tall – tall er  –  the  tall est

Hard – hard er  –  the  hard est

Cold – cold er  –  the  cold est

Practice

Set Expressions

There are quite a few set expressions containing the comparative or superlative forms of irregular adjectives.

For example:

a change for the better; a change for the worse;

at best / at the best;

at most / at the most;

at worst / at the worst;

get the worst of it;

go from bad to worse;

if worst comes to worst / if the worst comes to the worst;

last but not least;

more or less; none the less;

not in the least;

prepare for the worst;

so much the better;

so much the worse.

If he leaves, so much the better. If he doesn't want to obey the rules,

so much the worse for him.

Many companies sustained losses during that period, but small companies got the worst of it.