GRAMMAR I

COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

ADJECTIVES

Gradable adjectives can be marked to show comparative and superlative degree. These
degrees can be marked either inflectionally (using a single word) or phrasally (using a construction
of more than one word). Gradability is a quality that exists to a greater or lower extent.

type of marking comparative degree superlative degree

inflectional stronger, softer strongest, softest

phrasal more difficult, more famous most difficult, most famous

Short adjectives of one syllable generally take inflectional suffixes, when adding er, or –est
silent e is omitted and only –r or –st is added and final –y is changed to -i if a consonant precedes
it i.e. tidy, tidier, tidiest. And adjective ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel the
consonant is doubled wet, wetter, wettest. Three other adjectives are irregular forming the
comparative and superlative.
good, better, best bad, worse, worst far, farther, farthest

Longer adjectives often take phrasal comparison, using the degree adverbs more and most.
There is some variation, however and sometimes one adjective accepts both forms, specially
those ended in –y i.e. likelier-more likely, friendlier-more friendly, narrowest-most narrow. The
same happens with some short adjectives:

Wouldn’t it be more fair to tell them?

Some animals are more fierce when in captivity.
I think she is most proud of her brother.

A possible reason for choosing the phrasal alternative is that it makes the comparison more
prominent and in conversation more and most are stressed.

Certain adjectives have absolute meanings e.g. dead, true, unique, perfect. Degree
markings are redundant with these adjectives because they have an absolute meaning, something
is either dead or alive or perfect or not. These adjectives should not be made comparative or
superlative and they cannot take very. Although sometimes in conversation they can be marked
for degree.

Cut off the very dead ends.

That’s very true.

Descriptive adjectives are gradable and can take very i.e. big, deep, long, large, old, hot,
young, poor, nice, strange serious, etc.

Classifier adjectives are non gradable but they can take the adverbs: completely, totally,
absolutely i.e. additional, average, complete, different, final, chemical, environmental, medical,
mental, impossible, etc.

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 Complements of adjectives: comparative and degree complements of adjectives can be
prepositional phrases or clauses. There are 6 major types of degree complements for adjectives.

 Type 1: adjective-er + than + phrase/clause OR more/less + adjective + than +

phrase/clause. This is the most common type of comparative construction where it is used
to compare or contrast one thing with another.

Carrie is taller and prettier than her sister.

James seemed less suspicious than usual.
They are poorer than their neighbours.
Janet is more famous than the rest of the people in the cast.
This sample is better than nothing at all.

 Type 2: as + adjective + as + phrase/clause

The lake was as deep as we thought it was.

This second hand table is as good as new.

 Type 3:
A) so + adjective + that-clause (underlined)

He was so handsome that everyone turned their heads when he came into the
room.

B) such + adjective + noun + that-clause (underlined)

He was such a badly behaved boy that nobody wanted him in their house.

 Type 4: so + adjective + as + to-clause (underlined)

He was so stupid as to make everyone feel sorry for him.

 Type 5: too + adjective + to-clause

The new furniture we liked was too expensive to buy.

The clothes were too tight to be comfortable.

 Type 6: adjective + enough + to-clause

The water wasn’t hot enough to burn him badly.

The boys were not strong enough to lift the heavy boxes.

COMPARATIVES OF DOUBLE OR COMBINED ADJECTIVES:

These are used to describe how a change in one thing causes a change in another, we can use
two comparative forms with the. Note the use of the comma after the first clause. We sometimes
omit the verb be in the clauses.

The longer you leave it, the worse it will get.

The more sophisticated the product, the more substantial the potential profit.

BASE AND EXTREME ADJECTIVES:

Some adjectives are gradable which is a quality that exists to a greater or lesser degree. Some
adjectives can be base and some are extreme adjectives. These can be modified by adverbs that
can change the degree of an adjective, but they don’t occur with the same adverbs.

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Base adjectives like: wet, hungry, funny, big, hot, cold, expensive, bad, ugly, tired, dirty, frightened
collocate with very, rather, exceedingly, extremely, terribly, really.

Extreme adjectives like: soaking, famished, starving, hilarious, enormous, huge, boiling, freezing,
priceless, awful, disgusting hideous, horrible, exhausted, filthy terrified collocate with absolutely,
completely, utterly, totally, really.

The only adverb that can be used with either base or extreme adjectives is really.

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ADVERBS

Like adjectives, gradable adverbs can be marked for the comparative and superlative with
an inflection or the use of more and most even though their use is not very frequent.

He continued working harder and harder.

She went to church oftener than he did.
She went to church more often than he did

Complements of adverbs: the same as with adjectives comparative and degree

complements of adverbs can be prepositional phrases or clauses. The adverb phrase functions as
an adverbial in all the examples below:

 Type 1: adverb-er + than + phrase/clause OR more/less + adverb + than + phrase/clause.

This is the most common type of comparative construction where it is used to compare or
contrast one thing with another.

The problem could be much more difficult than we imagine.

It was solved more quickly than before.
She was less generously inclined than she had been years ago
He drank oftener than he used to

 Type 2: as + adverb + as + phrase/clause

The medication must be started as quickly as possible

He did the job as well as he could

 Type 3: so + adverb + that-clause (underlined)

She was dressed so beautifully that she stood out in the crowd.

 Type 4: so + adverb + as + to-clause (usually with the adverb far, underlined)

She went so far as to make him thoroughly annoyed at her.

 Type 5: too + adverb + to-clause

He was driving too quickly to avoid the accident.

The fire was raging too fiercely to be extinguished.

 Type 6: adverb + enough + to-clause

Several people had been injured seriously enough to be taken away in

ambulances.
The machine wasn’t working well enough to be used.

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