Comparative and Superlative Degrees

Degrees of Comparison:

• The word that describes, modifies, limits distinguishes or otherwise characterizes the noun is an adjective. 
• Many adjectives, including the most regularly used ones, include the property of comparison, which is conveyed by three distinct inflectional forms known as absolute, comparative, and superlative. 

• The three kinds of Degrees of Comparisonare:- 

1. Positive degree 

2. Comparative degree 

3. Superlative degree 

Positive Degree 

• Adjectives describe a noun’s or pronoun’s quality or characteristic. The positive degree is a term used to describe the basic form of an adjective. 
• Positive degree is used to compare two things which are equal in statusor quality,and also to compare two things which are not equal and do not have same status or quality. 

Examples:  

1. She is not so smart as her sister. 

2. The Moon is not so bright as the Sun. 

3. Mars is not so big as Jupiter. 

4. Mary is as intelligent as Kate. 

5. Elephant is a huge animal. 

Comparative degree 

To compare the quality of two nouns, adjectives can be inflected (modified in form). This is known as the comparative degree. 

Examples: 

1. English teacher is more generous than other school teachers. 

2. The planet Jupiter is bigger than the Earth. 

Superlative degree 

The superlative degree is an adjective used to identify a noun with the highest (or lowest) degree of an attribute within a group. 

Examples: 

1. Pluto was the farthest planet in the solar system. 

2. Rainwater is the purest water. 

Forming the Comparative and Superlative adjectives- 

1. With one-syllable adjectives, add ‘ er’ or ‘est’  and double the final consonant if preceded by one vowel. 

Example: 

Slim 

Slimmer 

slimmest 

Sad 

Sadder 

saddest 

Thin 

Thinner 

Thinnest 

2. The final consonant is not doubled if it is preceded by two vowels or another consonant. 

Example:

Large- larger- largest 

Small- smaller- smallest 

3. If an adjective has two syllables and end in ‘-y,’ we replace ‘y’with ‘i’ and add ‘-er’ or ‘-est.’ 

Example:

Happy- happier-happiest 

4. Long adjectives: Adjectives that have three or more syllables, or adjectives that have two syllables. 

Example: 

Careful— more/less careful— most/least careful 

Caring— more/less caring—most/least caring 

Gifted— more/less gifted—most/least gifted 

• Transforming sentences from degrees of comparison: 
• Greenland is the largest island in the world. 
• Greenland is larger than any other island in the world. 
• No other island in the world is as large as Greenland.