Professional Documents
Culture Documents
in grammar
Topic Introduction
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 tall a 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 so beautiful as the black & white cat. (= They are notthe 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 twotwogroups 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 SAT SUN
25 27 30 33 35 38 40
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.
For power presentation slides on comparisons, click here on degrees.of.comparison.For continuity,
please keep clicking after each feature in each slide.
______________
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.
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:
Is Aunt Dee your oldest sister, Dad? (family relation seniority but oldest is used) Taken from
BASIC SKILLS IN ENGLISH Book 6, by The Editorial Staff of Mc Dougal, Littell and Company, USA
_______________
[According to the traditional grammar rule, we are supposed to use the definite article 'the' before the
superlative form of an adjective. However, here we have a classic example showing the article 'a'
before the superlative form of an adjective by Moshe Riess:
The difference is: less suggests amount, and lesser suggests degree showing
some negative sense in a choice of two!
For example,
Though there is a debate in the educated circles as to when and where to use which word, less
or lesser, the learners at this basic level need not worry much about this pair, but keep an eye
on these words and note down the examples whenever they come across these words.
Foremost/first
These two words are synonyms, i.e. either word can be used. However, there is some difference in their
usage.
Foremost means the best or the most important; in a top or leading position
[Visit WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED under VOCABULARY for more sets of words that usually
confuse us.]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now lets discuss each Degree in some detail:
The positive degree of an adjective or adverb is in its simple form. It is used to denote or say the mere
existence of some quality of what we speak about. It is used when no comparison is made, but just to
point out that the quality is above average. [see figure 1] Tom is a tall boy. Here we have only one
person and one quality; and Toms quality of being tall is above average.
The comparative degree of an adjective or adverb denotes more degree of the quality than the positive
degree, and is used when two persons, animals or things, or two sets/groups of persons, animals or
things are compared with one another. [see figure 4] Tom is taller than his sister. Here we
have two persons Tom and his sister and the comparison is made to show that one is more in the
quality of being tall than the other. The word than is the conjunction we must use in the comparative
degree. In fact the example sentence in full is: Tom is taller than his sister is tall. The predicate part in
the subordinate clause (is tall) is normally not mentioned but understood. Please see item (f) under
Some Extraordinary Rules.
The superlative degree of an adjective or adverb denotes the most degree of the quality, and is used for
more than two persons, animals or things one against the rest one having the highest degree of
the quality in/of the rest. The Definite Article the is used before the adjective word in its superlative
form, and the preposition of is used with people, animals and things and in or under with places and
position. [see figure 7] The blue whale is the largest of all the animalsin the world. Here we have the
blue whale and the rest of the animals, and the blue whale has the quality of being large in the highest
degree (above all others) the supreme.
The Definite Article the is not used with the superlative form most when it is used to
mean very, and when it is used to indicate the possession of a quality in a very high degree but
without any comparison: This is mostunfortunate. A most ingenious idea! Note that it is not
the definite article the that is always used before the superlative form of an adjective or adverb.
The demonstrative adjective or the possessive adjective is also used depending on the context! e.g.
Our football player is in his best form this season.
The degree of equality of an adjective or adverb is used when two things are compared with a quality to
show that they both have the same degree of that quality. It is almost like saying that they both are the
same. [see figure 2] Thepositive form of the adjective or adverb word is used with the conjunction
asas. For example: This building is as tall as the next one. In other words The two buildings are
the same in height.
The degree of inequality of an adjective or adverb is to show that two persons, animals or things
are not the same in having a quality. [see figure 3] The positive form of the adjective or adverb word is
used with the conjunction soas. For example, The male dancer is not so graceful as the female
dancer. They are notthe same in being graceful. This comparison is almost the same as the
Comparative Degree: The female dancer is more graceful than the male dancer. Or The male dancer
is less graceful than the female dancer.
The conjunction in the Degree of equality is asas, but in the Degree ofinequality the
conjunction used is soas. In spoken English the conjunction asas is accepted even in the
Degree of Inequality; in written or formal British English, however, only soas is accepted. Not
everyone accepts or follows this rule!
The parallel degree is a comparison having two adjectives or adverbs one dependent on the other
which means when one activity with one adjective or adverb increases or decreases the other activity
with another adjective or adverb also increases or decreases. [see figure 5] For example,
The higher you climb,the more difficult you will feel. Here we have two adjectives
high and difficult, and when the height of a hill (or a ramp) increases, the difficulty in climbing also
increases, and when the height decreases, the difficulty also decreases.
The comparative form of the adjectives or adverbs is used in this comparison, and the most
important point to remember is that the articlethe is used before the comparative form of the
adjective or adverb words the higher and the more difficult. {In the comparative degree, the
comparative form of and adjective or adverb is not used with any article! For example, This hill is
higher than that hill. you notice that the article the is not used before higher.}
So, what we understand from these examples is that in Comparative Degree the comparative
form of an adjective or adverb word is not used with any article in the Parallel Degree, however,
we should use the articlethe before the comparative form of the adjective or adverb word!
Some dictionaries categorise the article the in this parallel degree comparison as an adverb;
some others say this use of article the before a word in its comparative form is idiomatic (an
idiom), and yet some other dictionaries accept this as comparative degree!
The progressive degree of an adjective or adverb is used to show that some quality is on the increase or
decrease as the time or some other course of action passes. [see figure 6] The comparative form of
the word is repeated, using the conjunction and, without any article.
The patient is getting weaker and weaker day by day.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
*In case you find the following rules difficult to understand right now, please leave them out for
the time being and proceed to the other items and try to understand them, and once the other
points in those items are clearly understood, then you can come back to these rules to revise
them one by one.
1. The comparative form with r or er in Comparative Degree is not used when we compare two
qualities in the same person, animal or thing:
e.g. Mr. George is more fast than skillful.
George One player; two qualities fast & skillful fast being more
In the example above, we have only one person, Mr. George, and two qualities fast and skillful in
him; and we are comparing those two qualities to say that he has one quality more than the other fast
being more than skillful. So in such cases we do not use the original comparative form with r or er
though the adjective has the form, but use more before the word in its positive form. That is to say the
adjective word fast has faster for its comparative form, but we have not used it here because we are
not comparing Mr. George with anybody else, but are comparing the two qualities Mr. George has in
him!
Mr. George runs faster than Mr. David.
two players George & David one quality fast George has more faster
In this sentence Mr. George is compared with another person called Mr. David,
and the quality being only one fast, it is used in its comparative form faster.
Here is a classic example from the book The Rare Birds of Southern Africa by Dr. Phillip Alexander
Clancy, published by Winchester Press Ltd., 1985:
Due to its secretive habits, (the bird is) generally considered more rare than it is.
2. When two persons, animals or things of the same group or kind are compared with
each other, the latter (i.e. the second of the two) of the comparison must exclude the former (i.e. the first
of the two):
e.g. Iron is more useful than any other metal. {Remember iron is a metal.}
The phrase any other shows that the metal iron is separated from the other metals in this context.
Suppose the expression is put in this way:
Iron is more useful than any metal. [without the word other], it will be the same as saying: Iron is
more useful than iron. which is meaningless because iron is itself a metal!
Compare:
Mary is cleverer than any boy in the class. [without other]
This expression (sentence) is accepted because Mary is a girl and she is compared with boys who
are not her (gender) kind or group.
Mary is cleverer than any girl in the class. (wrong)
This expression (sentence) is not accepted because Mary is a girl and she is compared with
her own kind or group.
Therefore, this expression should be: Mary is cleverer than any other girl in the class.
3. With the superlative form of the adjective or adverb in the Superlative Degree,
the article the must be used before the form with almost all the adjectives and adverbs.
There are, however, a couple of words which do not take the article the before them in some special
expressions. One word most has already been mentioned in the explanation for the Superlative
Degree; the other one is best which needs to be dealt with separately.
For example, in the expression with best wishes we do not use the article the before best. So it is
advisable to refer to a dictionary to learn about best and most in detail.
____________________________________
As rule number 4 is related to the PERSONAL PRONOUNS, we need to revise this topic thoroughly.
Please go to the topic Personal Pronouns.
However, the following table and the short description below it may help us to take a quick look at
the PERSONAL PRONOUNS:
Person =
a) When we compare two persons with one adjective or adverb in Comparative Degree, the PRONOUN
used after than must be in Nominative Case (subjective case). This is considered formal English.
e.g. He speaks more fluently than I. [I is the nominative case]
= He speaks more fluently than I speak.
In this sentence He speaks more fluently than me speak. sounds silly.
[me is the Objective Case of the pronoun I]
Nevertheless, the Objective Case form of the pronoun is also used by many people, including some
grammarians.
This is considered informal or spoken English. For example: He is taller than me.
The famous grammarian, John Silverlight, accepted the use of Objective Case of the Pronoun
when the context demands a nominative case form in his book More Words (page 123) quoting
a letter from Mr. Gideon Cohen Jerusalem, himself a famous person.
Therefore, we can say: She has more money than he. [he in nominative case form]
She has more money than he has. Or *She has more money than him. [him in objective case
form]
{Sentences of this type are not very clear; there is bound to be some confusion}
b) But the objective case form is the only form to be used in cases like this one:
Peter likes his books more than her. [here her could be a girl he knows]
Explanation:
Peter likes his books 80%
This sentence, if written in full is: Peter likes his books better than he (Peter) likesher.
Therefore, in this expression only the objective case her should be used.
Lets analyse another sentence:
James talked more about drinks than them. [here them could be his friends or associates]
them is the objective case of pronoun they
James talked about drinks 80%
{Therefore, it is to be understood that the case of the pronoun in Comparativeschanges the meaning of
the sentence.}
c) When the former (the first of the two persons, animals or things) in Comparative Degree is in the
POSSESSIVE CASE,
the latter (the second of the two persons, animals or things) must be in the possessive case:
For example,
His car is bigger than their car. OR His car is bigger than theirs.
d) When comparisons of actions are made with GERUND or TO-INFINITIVE,
the NON-FINITE form must be used in both the clauses of the sentence:
For example:
When we want to know which one of the two persons, animals or things is more or less in the quality
talked about, we use the the with the comparative form of the adjective or adverb:
For example,