Unit 20 Expression of Quality.

Degree and Comparison

1. Introduction
2. A Theoretical Framework for the Notion of Quality
2.1. Linguistic Levels Involved in the Notion of Quality
2.2. On Defining Quality: What and How
2.3. Grammar Categories: open vs, closed classes
3. The Expression of Quality
3.1. Adjectives: Main Features
3.2. Quality in Terms of other Grammatical Categories
3.3. A Classification of Adjectives: Main Functions
4. The Expression of Degree and Comparison
4.1. The Expression of Degree
4.2. The Expression of Comparison
5. Educational Implications
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography

1. Introduction
This unit is primarily intended to serve as an introduction to the different ways of expressing quality
in English. The study will be divided into six main chapters. Thus, Chapter 2 provides a theoretical
framework for the notion of quality within a grammar linguistic theory, in which some key
terminology is defined in syntactic terms. Chapter 3, presents and defines the notion of quality
regarding adjectives and the other grammatical categories involved in it, such as adverbs, past
participles, and other means. Moreover, adjectives are classified according to their three main
functions: semantic, in terms of opposite pairs (stative vs. dynamic; inherent vs. non-inherent;
gradable vs. non-gradable); morphological, in terms of adjective formation processes (affixation
and compounding); and syntactic, which is introduced by the notion of adjectival phrase, and
moves on to examine adjectives in attributive and predicative positions. Chapter 4 offers a
descriptive account of the different ways of expressing quality through the expression of degree
and comparison. Chapter 5 provides an educational framework for the expression of quality within
the current curriculum. Chapter 6 draws a conclusion from all the points involved in this study.
Finally, in Chapter 7, a list of bibliography will be provided.

2. A Theoretical Framework for the Notion of Quality

This introductory chapter aims at answering questions such as where the notion of quality is to be
found within the linguistic level, what it describes and how and which grammar categories are
involved in its description.
2.1. Linguistic Levels Involved in the Notion of Quality
The usual description of a language comprises four major components: phonology, grammar,
lexicon, and semantics, out of which we get five major levels: phonological, morphological and
syntactic, lexical and semantic.
First, the phonology describes the sound level, that is, consonants, vowels, stress, intonation, and
so on. Second, since the two most basic units of grammar are the word and the sentence, the
component of grammar involves the morphological level and the syntactic level. Third, the lexical
level lists vocabulary items, specifying how they are pronounced, how they behave grammatically,
and what they mean. Finally, the semantic level, to which all four of the major components are
related since a linguistic description which ignores meaning is obviously incomplete.
Each of the linguistic levels discussed above has a corresponding component when analysing the
notion of quality. Phonology deals with pronunciation of comparative and superlative forms (ex:
easier, the easiest); morphology deals with comparative and superlative markers (ex: -er, -est);
and syntax deals with the establishment of rules that specify which combinations of words
constitute grammatical strings and which do not (ex: shorter than; the shortest in the world). Lexis
deals with the expression of quality by means of affixes (ex: long-haired) or suffixes (ex: -ful as in
careful, -less as in careless); the choice between adjectives and adverbs (ex: He is a good driver.
He drives well), lexical choices regarding intensifying adjectives (funny vs. really funny vs.
hilarious), the use of emphatic determiners (ex: very/quite/really nice), past participles and present
participles (ex: bored vs. boring) or other means such as idiomatic expressions (ex: the sooner,
the better); and finally, semantics deals with meaning where syntactic and morphological levels do
not tell the difference (ex: “You are nice” – you, 2nd person singular or – you, 2nd person plural.
2.2. On Defining Quality: What and How
The aim of this section is to define the term “quality” by linking the notion of quality (what it is) to
the grammar categories which express it (how it is showed). The term “quality” is taken from a list
where adjectives are classified according to the main types: demonstrative, distributive,
quantitative, interrogative, possessive and adjectives which denote quality (clever, golden, good).
These qualitative adjectives are words denoting “properties or states”, among which the most
frequent are those relating to size, shape, colour, age, evaluation (ex: good, bad, nice, etc.). They
are often gradable and are manifested through comparison and other means. They are also
usually expressed by means of antonyms, as in (big vs. small, old vs. young).
Quality adjectives are intended to give information about something/someone by either offering a
description or identification with a wide range of properties to provide a detail report of the item we
are describing (colour, shape, size, weight, height, material, age, and so on)-
Adjectives may be placed in two positions: in attributive position, before nouns to qualify the head
of a noun phrase (ex: a small table), or in predicative sentences after the verb, functioning as
subject complement (ex: it seems small) or object complement (ex: I find the table small).
2.3. Grammar Categories: Open vs. Closed Classes
In order to confine the notion of quantity to particular grammatical categories, we must review first
the difference between open and closed classes. The open classes are verbs, nouns, adjectives
and adverbs, and are said to be unrestricted since they allow the addition of new members to their
membership, whereas the closed classes are the rest: prepositions, conjunctions, articles
(definite and indefinite), numerals, pronouns, quantifiers, and interjections, which belong to a
restricted class since they do not allow the creation of new members.
When expressing quality, we are mainly dealing with adjectives that, when taken to phrase and
sentence level, may be substituted by other grammatical categories, expressions and special
structures (nouns, idioms, or paraphrasing).

3. The Expression of Quality

The expression of quality will be first examined through the category of adjectives, and then we
will offer a descriptive approach through other grammatical categories related to it, such as
adverbs, past and present participles and other grammatical structures like prepositional phrases,
idiomatic expressions or verbless sentences as possible answers to questions such as How…?
and What…like?
Although adjectives are mainly classified into two groups: determinatives (possessive,
demonstrative, numerals, interrogative, and indefinite) which determine nouns as in “this book” or
“your house”, and qualitative, to add qualities to a noun as in “this interesting book” or “your nice
house”, our study will be primarily based on the notion of qualitative adjectives since it is the
category that is gradable and will lead us to the expression of degree and comparison.
In the following chapters, we will examine the main issues that will provide the base of the whole
unit. Thus, (1) main features of adjectives; (2) the expression of quality in terms of other
grammatical categories;(3) a classification of adjectives according to their main functions,
semantic, syntactic and morphological.
3.1. Adjectives: Main Features
According to Huddleston, the term “adjective” is applied to a grammatical word class in a language
which has the following properties: (1) its most central members are words (adjectives) denoting
aspects such as age, colour, value, shape and so on; (2) its members are used either predicatively
(as complement of the verb “to be” or other copula verbs) or attributively, modifying a noun; (3)
adjectives belong to a class to which the inflectional category of grade applies. In English, we find
no markers of number or gender in adjectives since they have the same form for singular and
plural, and for masculine and feminine. The only exceptions are the demonstrative adjectives this
and that which change to these and those before plural nouns.
Quirk & Greenbaum add to more characteristics to adjectives. The first one is that most adjectives
can be pre-modified by intensifiers (adverbs) such as very, really, quite, enough, too, so, etc. and
the second one refers to the expression of grade, since most of them can take comparative and
superlative forms by the addition of pre-modifiers (more, the most) and post-modifiers (…than, …
in the world).
3.2. Quality in Terms of Other Grammatical Categories
To qualify nouns other categories can be used, for instance, the answer to “What is the book
like?” may be drawn not only from the grammatical category of adjectives (ex: thick, fiction), but
also from other categories, such as nouns (ex: a leather cover), past participles (ex: far-fetched),
present participles (ex: boring, amusing), adverbs (ex: He read it fast vs. He is a fast reader). We
can also use idiomatic expressions (ex: the longer the better). Within this type we can find (a) two
comparatives together (ex: more and more frequent), (b) two comparatives together preceded by
the article “the” (ex: the sooner the better), and (c) comparative phrases (ex: He’s so old that…;
H’s such a good boy!) using discontinuous modifiers (ex: as/so…as, not so…as).
3.3. A Classification of Adjectives: Main Functions
According to their main functions, adjectives can be classified into three types: (1) the semantic
function, which is related to intrinsic aspects of adjectives; (2) the morphological function, by which
adjectives are formed from other means such as affixation and compounding processes, and (3)
the syntactic function, which is related to the structure and position od adjectival phrases at the
sentence level.
The Semantic Function
The semantic function distinguishes two main types of adjectives: descriptive adjectives, which
denote general qualities of a noun (ex: red hair) and classifying adjectives, which denote certain
qualities of a noun in order to frame the item into a certain category (ex: polar, atomic, industrial).
Some adjectives may refer to both types at the same time, but may have different meaning (ex: He
is a sick man (mental illness) vs. He’s sick (physical illness)).
Following Quirk & Greenbaum, these two types of adjectives are embedded into three semantic
contrastive pairs: (1) stative vs. dynamic, (2) gradable vs. non-gradable and (3) inherent vs. non-
inherent.
Stative vs. Dynamic Adjectives
In English, most adjectives are stative (ex: tall, sad, expensive) but many can be seen as dynamic
(ex: careful, brave, calm, funny, good).
The rule to tell the difference is to use them with the progressive aspect of verbs (ex: He’s being
tall) or in the imperative (ex: Be tall). Stative adjectives do not make sense into this structure
whereas dynamic do (ex: He’s being careful; Be careful). Both qualitative and classifying
adjectives may be used in this case.
Gradable vs. Non-Gradable Adjectives
Gradable vs. non-gradable adjectives refers to the degree of intensity of an adjective (positive,
comparative, superlative) and is manifested through comparison (ex: tall – taller – the tallest). The
prototypical adjective is gradable and contains numerous and simple pairs of opposites (ex: hot –
cold, light – dark and so on) and it takes degree expressions through modification by intensifiers
(ex: almost, as, how, much, pretty, this, too, very and -ly adverbs). All dynamic and most stative
adjectives are gradable (ex: old, short, loud).
Most gradable adjectives are suitable for comparison since they include modifiers in their syntactic
structures (ex: a formal report/more formal than/the most formal) whereas non-gradable adjectives
do not allow any modifiers in their structure since they refer to more “technical adjectives” (ex: an
atomic/British report/ a more atomic/British report/the most atomic/British report).
Inherent vs. Non-Inherent Adjectives
Inherent vs. non-inherent adjectives involves the relation of the adjective to an implicit or explicit
standard noun in the phrase or sentence. For instance, the adjective “big” is inherent in “a big
elephant”. This noun phrase is gradable since we can say “a very big elephant”. However,
“enormous” as a synonym of “big”, is not gradable, and therefore, is not-inherent in the same
structure: “a very enormous elephant”. Moreover, an adjective as “silver” is inherent in “a silver
bracelet” but not in “a silver woman”.
The Morphological Function
According to Quirk & Greenbaum, we cannot tell whether a word is an adjective by looking at it in
isolation since the form does not necessarily indicate its syntactic function. Yet, many members of
the class of adjectives are identifiable on the basis of typical derivational suffixes, such as -ous
(ex: generous, serious) and -ful (ex: wonderful, fearful) whereas other common adjectives have no
identifying shape (ex: hot, good, little).
Adjectives can be inflected for the comparative and superlative with the inflexional suffixes -er and
-est (ex: fat – fatter – the fattest) whereas other do not allow inflective forms. Similar features apply
to adverbs, which can be inflected (ex: hard – harder – hardest), and also, many of them are
derived from adjectives, adding the suffix -ly to the adjective base (ex: nice – nicely) although not
all of them allow this derivational process (ex: old – oldly).
In the adjective class we find primary words which do not derive from any other (ex: long, short,
big, tall) whereas most adjectives are derived from other words (nouns, other adjectives, verbs or
adverbs) by certain morphological processes; (1) affixation and (2) compounding.
Adjective Formation by Means of Affixation
Regarding affixation, we may find two types: prefixes and suffixes. With respect to prefixes, we
may mention a number of prefixes: un- (unkind), non- (non-negotiable), in- (inattentive), dis-
(dishonest), super- (superhuman), over- (overconfident).
In the case of suffixes, they are added to a base form (base form + suffix) in which the base is
formed by different types of grammatical categories. Therefore, we may find adjectives derived:
(a) From nouns, adding suffixes like -ful (hopeful), -less(harmless), -like (childlike), -ish
(childish), -(i)al criminal. To indicate nationality -ish (Spanish), -ese (Japanese), -(i)an
(Italian), -esque (Arabesque), -ite (Israelite). Moreover, -en and -y (golden, rainy) and also
-ly (friendly) and -ic (atomic). Finally, -ous (cautious) and -ible (contemptible). The suffix
-ed can be added to nouns, as in walled-garden, but more often is added to an adjective +
noun phrasal expression, as in (blue-eyed).
(b) From other adjectives, adding suffixes like -some (fulsome); -al (comical); -ish (reddish); -ly
(deadly, nicely)
(c) From verbs, adding suffixes like -less (careless); -some (tiresome); -ive (attractive); -able
(unforgettable).
(d) From adverbs, adding suffixes like -er (inner, upper)
Adjective Formation by Means of Compounding
Regarding compounding, the most productive type has a participial form of a verb as the second
stem, as in the structure formed by “noun + present participle”: a good-looking girl”; and that of
“noun + past participle: “home-made pizza, sun-burnt”. We also find compounds made up of other
different categories. For instance:
(a) Noun + adjective, as in “tax-free, stone-cold”.
(b) Adjective + adjective, as in “dark-blue, light-green”.
(c) Adjective or adverb + noun + -ed ending, as in “blue-eyed, well-mannered”.
(d) Adverb + past participle, as in “so-called, well-known”.
(e) Adverb + present participle, as in “hard-working, easy-going”.
The Syntactic Function
Adjectives function as the head of adjectival phrase structures with two main functions: (a)
attributive adjectives, functioning as modifiers or constituents of the noun phrase, preceding the
noun phrase head (ex: green door), and in some cases following it as in “something good”; and
predicative adjectives, which function as subject or object complements placed after a linking
verb (ex: This coffee tastes good). The majority of adjectives can be used both attributively and
predicatively, but there are adjectives that can only be used in one of these ways.
So, following Quirk & Greenbaum, adjectives are classified into two main types according to their
syntactic function in the sentence: (1) attributive and (2) predicative adjectives.
The Notion of Adjectival Phrase
An adjectival phrase is a constituent which can be identified on the basis of the word class
membership of adjectives. Following traditional nomenclature, we call the element that gives its
name to an adjectival phrase the head of the phrase, an adjective for our purposes. Apart from the
adjectival head, we distinguish only one other function in the adjective phrase, that of modifier. It is
called pre-modifier when the constituent realizing this function precedes the head (ex: an
extremely interesting book), and post-modifier when this constituent follows it (ex: Peter felt
doubtful about the exam).
Attributive Adjectives
The attributive position is a central feature of adjectives, being one of the major syntactic functions
of adjectives together with the predicative position. In general, attributive adjectives do not
characterize the referent of the noun directly. For instance, the word “old” can be either a central
adjective (an old man) in opposition to “young” or predicative (that man is old. However, in the
sense of “an old friend of mine”, “old” is restricted to attributive position, but occasionally we may
also find it after the noun, as in “someone sensible to talk to”.
Therefore, we can distinguish between adjectives that are placed (1) before and (2) after the noun.
Adjectives Preceding the noun: One-Word Adjective Phrases
Regarding adjectives which precede the noun, in principle there are no restrictions on the number
of adjectives that may occur before the head. However, we can distinguish two types according to
Aarts: (1) when the noun is preceded by one attributive adjective, also called one-word adjective
phrases or (2) when the noun is preceded by more than one attributive adjective.
(1) In the case of one-word adjective phrases (only one adjective + noun), we refer to those
adjectives which usually precede the noun and that can only be used in attributive position.
This type of adjectives do not allow pre or post-modification by means of adverbs, phrasal
structures, or specific expressions and always constitute one-word adjective phrases (ex:
the former president). However, some examples show that one-word adjective phrases
used in pre-modification may also consist of an adjectival head preceded by a one-word
intensifier (ex: your extremely sensible decision).
On modifying the noun, we distinguish four types of adjectives which can only be used in
attributive position; (i) intensifying, (ii) restrictive, (iii) adjectives related to adverbs, and (iv)
adjectives related to nouns.
(i) The first type, intensifying adjectives which have a heightening or lowering effect on
the noun they modify. Within this class, we distinguish three further types: emphasizers,
amplifiers, and down-toners. The first amplifies from an assumed norm (ex: a true
scholar); the second denotes the upper extreme of the scale and denote an extreme
degree (ex: a complete victory); and the third has a lowering effect usually scaling
downwards (ex: a slight effort)
(ii) Restrictive adjectives limit the reference of the noun exclusively, particularly (ex:
former – the former president). It is important to not that some of these have homonyms,
for example, “certain” in “a certain person” is a restrictive adjective equivalent to “a
particular person” while in “a certain winner” it is an intensifier. Other examples of one-
word adjective phrases which are restrictive adjectives, for example: inner (the inner
circle), only (the only problem), specific (the specific point).
(iii) Adjectives related to adverbs are non-inherent, even though they are not intensifying
or restrictive in attributive position, as in “my former friend” (formerly my friend)
(iv) Adjectives related to nouns are adjectives derived from nouns, restricted to attributive
position (ex: an atomic scientist, a criminal court).This adjectives are formed with the
suffixes -ic (atomic), -al (criminal), -en (golden).
(2) When the noun is preceded by more than one attributive adjective (ex: beautiful sunny
weather), the order in which adjectives appear is not always free. According to Thomson &
Martinet, several variations are possible, but a usual order is generally established in terms
of semantic properties, whereby descriptive adjectives precede the limiting ons, from the
most general to the most specific features.
The order of adjectives is determined by the semantic class to which the adjectives belong.
Following Thomson & Martinet, we will distinguish:
General opinion (wonderful, nice); other qualities (order, temperature); size (large, small); shape
(round, square); age (new, old); colour (red, blue); origin (American, British); material (stone,
plastic); type (electric kettle); and finally, nouns functioning as adjectives which answer to the
question “what for?” (a bread knife, a bath towel).
Adjectives Following the Noun: Postpositive Position
This makes reference to those adjectives that can immediately follow the noun or pronoun they
modify. Usually, a postposed adjective can be further regarded as a reduced relative clause, as in
“I want to try on something nicer” (=something which is nicer). According to Aarts, adjective
phrases may follow the noun head in the following cases:
(1) When noun head and adjective form an idiomatic expression, as in Attorney General, court
martial.
(2) When the post-modifying adjective is one of a limited number of items, including present,
alive, involved, concerned, as in “the people present” (=who are present), the information
available.
(3) A few adjectives ending in -able and -ible can be postpositive, as well as attributive, when
they are modified by another adjective in the superlative degree as in, “the only person
suitable, the best use possible”.
(4) When the noun phrase head is a compound indefinite pronoun or an adverb (ex: -body,
-one, -thing, -where), they can be modified only post-positively, as in anyone intelligent to
talk to, I want something cooler.
(5) For other few adjectives, post-position is obligatory since they have different meaning when
occurring attributively or predicatively. For instance, the stars visible refers to stars that are
visible at a time specified, while the visible stars refers more to a category of stars that can
be seen.
Predicative Adjectives
Regarding predicative adjectives, we must say they refer to those adjectives which are placed
after a linking verb (ex: feel, be, get, sound, seem, look like) and can function as subject
complement of copulative verbs (ex: this horse is black) as well as object complement after other
verbs (ex: He sounded serious, she felt clod).
It is worth noting that some adjectives change their meaning when moved from attributive position
to the predicative one. Yet, bad/good, big/small, heavy/light cannot be used predicatively without
changing the meaning, for instance, compare “a small farmer” vs. “the farmer is small”. The former
refers to “a man who has a small farm” whereas the latter means that “he is a small man
physically.
Adjectives with Complementation or post-modification
Adjectives with complementation cannot normally have attributive position but require post-
position. The complementation may be realized by:
(1) The adverb enough, which is the only adverb that can post-modify an adjectival phrase.
Enough may be followed by an infinitive clause (ex: quick enough to be in time)
(2) A prepositional phrase, formed by adjective + preposition + noun (ex: suitable for me, good
at Maths. Other examples: afraid of, loyal to, full of, furious with, worried about, among
others.
(3) A finite clause refers to the clausal post-modification of adjectival heads usually realized by
“that-clauses”, as in “I am glad that you come”. Wh-words may also post-modify adjectival
heads, as in “I am doubtful whether (if) I should go” or “He is not sure Who did it”. After
 comparative adjectives in -er, the finite clause is introduced by than, as in “The trip was
longer than I expected”.
(4) In a non-finite clause, the adjectival head can be followed by an infinitive clause (ex: afraid
to go, anxious to leave, eager to please). There are cases where the adjective may be
preceded by too or followed by enough, as in “this is a theory too difficult to explain” and
“He is not brave enough to jump”.
The infinitive clause may be introduced by a WH-word, as in “She feels uncertain what to
tell her son”. The adjectives worth and busy are followed by an -ing participle clause, as in
“This problem is worth looking into” or “They were busy packing”.

Other Type of Constructions

Within other type of constructions, I will deal with six different types:
(1) Adjectives can function as head of noun phrases, which can be subject of the sentence,
complement, object, and prepositional complement. When this occurs, adjectives do not
inflect for number or for the genitive case, and they usually require the definite determiner
“the”. For instance, groups of people (ex: the brave, the rich, the poor), nationalities (ex: the
Dutch, the British), and abstract reference (ex: the supernatural, the unreal).
(2) Verbless clauses can function as the sole realization of an adjective phrase. For instance,
in a sentence like “The man, enthusiastic, read the letter” the clause is mobile.
(3) Sometimes the adjective phrase can be replaced by an adverb phrase with little change of
meaning by means of the suffix (-ly) as in nice – nicely or zero marker as in hard – hard,
substituting the prepositional structure “in a(n) + adjective + way/manner. For instance,
“Melanie was very friendly” and “She spoke to us in a friendly way”. A few adjectives end in
“-ly” and are not adverbs (ex: elderly, likely, lonely, silly), and there is a group of words that
can function as both (ex: deep, early, fast, hard, high, late, long, low, near).
Irregular adjectives, such as good and bad. “Good” is an adjective, and “well” is its adverb.
The opposites are “bad” and “badly”.
(4) A contingent adjective clause is one type of verbless clause, which is often introduced by a
subordinator, expressing the circumstance or condition of what is said. For instance, in the
sentences “Whether right or wrong, he always does what he wants”, “When fit, he is an
excellent sprinter”.
(5) Exclamatory clauses deal with adjectives that function as the head of an adjective phrase
that is an exclamation. For instance, “How good of you”, “Brilliant”.
(6) Discontinuous modifier, refers to comparative and superlative forms.

4. The Expression of Degree and Comparison

The prototypical adjective is gradable (ex: beautiful, long, wide), and as such takes degree
expressions by means of adverbs functioning as modifiers (ex: almost, so, how, much, pretty,
rather, very or -ly adverbs). A special case of degree specification is comparison, which is
expressed either inflectionally (-er/-est) or analytically (more/most) by means of degree adverbs.
4.1. The Expression of Degree
Following Huddleston on the expression of degree, it should be borne in mind that not all
adjectives are gradable like “anthropological, linguistic” which denote categorial as opposed to
scalar properties. Nationality adjectives like Spanish are primarily categorial since someone or
something either belongs to this category or not; but they can be used in a secondary sense
denoting a gradable property, as in “He is very Spanish”, meaning “very much like the Spanish
stereotype”.
So far, we may distinguish three main types of expressing degree: (1) by means of modifiers, (2)
by means of semantic fields in scalar associations, and (3) by comparison, either inflectionally or
analytically.
By Means of Pre-Modifiers: Intensifying Adverb Phrases
The use of modifiers implies the use of adverbs in pre-modifier position. They indicate an increase
or decrease of the intensity with which a predication is expressed (very useful, extremely useful,
fairly easy, far more interesting, hardly unbelievable).
According to Quirk & Greenbaum, increased intensification to various degrees is realized by
amplifiers, as in “They fully appreciate the problem”, “He has completely ignored me”. On the other
hand, decrease intensification to various degrees is realized by down-toners, as in “They have
practically forced him to eat”, “I was only joking”.
Other adverb phrases as modifiers may indicate frequency (ex: usually, frequently, rarely, seldom,
etc.); time (ex: previously, recently, permanently); manner (ex: coldly, surgically, accidentally);
respect (ex: legally, formally); courtesy (ex: kindly, politely); intentionality (ex: consistently,
intentionally); emphasis (ex: really, just, simply); and focusing items (ex: merely, not, only, also).
By Means of Associative Semantic Fields
We may find it in almost all grammatical categories. For instance, in nouns (ex: baby, child, boy,
teenager, adult, old people); in adjectives (ex: ugly, pretty, beautiful, stunning) and the rest of the
categories.
By Comparison: Degree Specification
On comparing people or things, as bearers of a certain quality or characteristic, we do it by means
of degree specification, in terms of positive, comparative, and superlative comparison. To carry out
comparison, we that at least two people or things are involved, either individually or in groups.
First, the positive degree of comparison expresses quality in its most simple form (ex: a good man,
a tall boy); second, the comparative degree expresses quality in a higher degree, comparing
implicitly or explicitly at least two things (ex: a better man, he is better than me/us); third, the
superlative expresses quality in its highest degree, even by comparing more than one thing (ex:
He is the best man in the world/of the family) or not comparing, just by expressing an absolute
superlative (ex: it is most interesting). The prepositional phrase following it is “in” when we deal
with places, and “of” when it is anything else.
Comparison by degree specification may be expressed either inflectionally, as in bigger and
biggest, or analytically, by means of the degree adverbs more and most, as in “more relevant,
most relevant”.
4.2. The Expression of Comparison
The expression of comparison will be examined in terms of: types of comparison and definition,
formation processes and spelling and pronunciation rules.
Types of Comparison: Definition
Following Quirk & Greenbaum, gradable adjectives and adverbs are defined in terms of three
types of comparison: (1) to a lower degree, (2) to the same degree, and (3) to a higher degree.
The Lower Degree: Inferiority
As the name indicates, this type of comparison means that one of the two items compared is
explicitly inferior in degree than the other one (ex: My car is less expensive than yours)
In English we rather use another structure referred to as the comparative of inequality, “not so/as
+ adjective in positive form + as”, as in “My car is not so expensive as yours”. The usual structure
is formed by the adverb “less + adjective + than + (reduced) comparative clause or noun phrase”
(ex: …than your car is/yours).
The Same Degree: Equality
It is also called comparative of equality. As the name indicates, this type of comparison means that
the two items compared are equal in degree (ex: He is as tall as she is/her). The structure is
formed by the discontinuous modifiers “so/as + adjective in positive degree + as + (reduced)
comparative clause or noun phrase.
We also use other structures like “as…as” in affirmative sentences and “not so…as” and “not as…
as” in negative ones. We have alternative structures which indicate similar semantic features by
means of prepositional phrases, using “like” as a linking verb (ex: You look like an actor / you are
as attractive as an actor). We may also use “the same as + pronoun/noun phrase/object) or a
special structure to contrast (ex: the longer I do exercise, the happier I am).
We may also use “as much…as” for non-count nouns, and “as many…as” with count nouns in the
plural.
The Higher Degree: Superiority
It is also called comparative of superiority. As its name indicates, this type of comparison means
that the item referred to may be compared (comparative) or not (superlative) with respect to a
group of possessors of a quality (ex: He is taller than her / He is the tallest).
The structures used are formed, in the comparative and superlative either by suffixes (ex:
“adjective + -er + than; adjective + -est + in/of”) or analytic structures (ex: more + adjective + than
+ (reduced) comparative clause or noun phrase”; “the most + adjective + in/of…”).
We must point out that comparative and superlative forms also have different types. For instance,
regarding comparatives, we may distinguish several types, apart from the comparative of
superiority. First, two comparatives related to idiomatic expressions: the comparative of gradation,
which denotes a quality that increases gradually (ex: He is getting more and more impatient
everyday) and the comparison of proportion, in which the two qualities increase at the same time
(ex: The more he ran, the more I chased him). Second, the so-called absolute comparative, which
makes reference to a “contrast” instead of a “comparison” (ex: The former idea was better than the
latter one).
Regarding superlatives, we distinguish another three types. First, the relative superlative, which
addresses to quality measurement within a group, highlighting the quality in one (or more)
possessors within the group (ex: Which is your car? The cleanest). Second, the absolute
superlative, which addresses to quality in its higher degree (ex: Which film did you like most?).
Finally, we refer to the superlative preceded by a possessive structure, which is addressed by
using the structure “most + positive form” (ex: they sang their loudest = They sang as loud as they
could).
Formation Processes
First, two relevant distinctions must be established: regular and irregular comparison and short
and long adjectives since the number of syllables a word has will determine how to apply correctly
the inflectional or the analytical rules of comparative formation.
Regular Formation Processes: Short and Long Adjectives
In general, comparison by inflection is characteristic of monosyllabic (tall – taller – tallest) and
disyllabic adjectives pretty – prettier – prettiest) whereas analytic processes are characteristic of
adjectives with three or more syllables (more interesting – most interesting).
One and Two-Syllable Adjectives
One-syllable adjectives (ex: short, tall, big, hot) and most two-syllable adjectives (ex: dirty, simple,
clever) take inflectional suffixes to form the comparative (-er) and the superlative degrees (-est).
Some two-syllable adjectives usually have the alternative of analytical processes to form their
comparative and superlative forms (ex: commoner/more common – commonest/the most
common).
Those ending in -ful or -re take analytical processes (ex: doubtful – more doubtful – most
doubtful).
Those stressed on the second syllable or ending in -e, -er, -y, -ly, -ow, or syllabic /l/, usually add
-er or -est (ex: brave – braver – bravest; silly – sillier – silliest; narrow – narrower – narrowest;
feeble – feebler – feeblest).
Adjectives with Three or More Syllables
Adjectives with three or more syllables only take analytical structures for the comparative (more…
than) and the superlative (the most…in/of). Adjectives that usually follow analytical processes are
those ending in (a) -ful or -less (ex: careful, helpful, helpless): (b) -ing or -ed (ex: boring, annoyed);
(c) and many others, such as afraid, certain, correct, eager, exact, famous.
Adjectives with the negative un- prefix, such as unhappy and untidy, are exceptions (ex: unhappier
– unhappiest; untidier – untidiest).
Comparison of Adverbs
WE can also compare adverbs since the inflected forms used for comparison in adjectives are the
same (ex: carefully – more carefully – the most carefully). As with adjectives, there is a small
group of irregular adverbs with comparatives and superlatives formed from different stems.
The comparative and superlative inflections are identical with those for the corresponding
adjectives good, bad, far and the quantifiers much and little (ex: badly – worse – worst; well –
better – best; little – less(lesser) – least; far – farther/further – farthest/furthest; much – more –
most). So, adverbs are identical in form with adjectives when taking inflections, for instance: fast,
hard, late, long, quick. They follow the same spelling and phonological rules as for adjectives (ex:
fast – faster – fastest).
There are three adjectives that have two comparatives and two superlatives:
(i) late – later/latter – the latest/the last, in which the comparative form “later” means
“afterwards” whereas “latter” means “the last one” (vs. former “the first one”), and the
superlative form “the latest” means “the most recent” (ex: His latest novel = he can still
write more) whereas “the last” means “the last in a life time” (ex: His last novel = he died
and cannot write any more novels) or “the previous one” (ex: last year = the previous
year).
(ii) Old – older/elder – the oldest/the eldest, in which “older” and “the oldest” refer to “age”
whereas “elder” and “the eldest” refer to the order of birth of members of a family. For
example: “Mathew is older than me (=age) vs. Mathew is my elder brother (=order of
birth in my family)”.
(iii) Far – farther/further – the farthest/the furthest, in which “farther” and “the farthest” refer
to “space or time” (ex: Vigo is farther from Ourense than Ribadavia) and “further” and
 “the furthest” refer to “the notion of more, of summation” (ex: Have you any further
information?).
The Notions of Quantity and Quality in Comparison
The notions of quantity and quality are reflected in the quantifiers much and little. For instance, in
the comparative forms of “little” (less/lesser), “less” is related to nouns with uncountable
associations, and denotes quantity in a scale of measurement (less vs. more) whereas “lesser” is
related to nouns with countable associations and denotes quality or value.
Adjectives Which do not Function as Adjectives
Another point to highlight in this section is the use of adjectives in comparative forms that do not
accept any degree of comparison due to semantic properties. We refer to: (a) adjectives regarding
time (ex: annual, monthly); (b) regarding material (ex: wooden, golden); (c) shape (ex: square,
round); (d) extreme qualities (ex: perfect, eternal)
Semantic Properties of Adjectives in Comparison
This refers to the semantic properties of comparative forms in adjectives when these are drawn
from Latin sources, ending in -or (ex: major, minor, exterior, interior, junior, senior, and many
more). In these cases, they are not followed by “than” but by the preposition “to” (ex: He thinks he
is superior to them).
Irregular Formation Processes
A number of adjectives have irregular degrees of comparison:
- Bad – worse – worst
- Far – farther/further – farthest/furthest
- Good – better – best
Spelling Changes
Regarding changes in spelling, there are some special spelling rules for the addition of -er and -
est to the base form of the adjective:
(1) Adjectives whose positive form ends in -e/-ee, are only added the suffixes -r or -st (brave –
braver – bravest).
(2) Adjectives whose positive form ends in a single short vowel + single consonant, double the
consonant (ex: hot – hotter – hottest). However, when the only single consonant at the end
is -w, it is not doubled (ex: new – newer – newest)
(3) Adjectives whose positive form ends in -y, have two possibilities. First, if the sequence is
consonant + y, final -y is changed to -I (ex: happy – happier). However, if the sequence is
vowel + y, it does not change (ex: grey – greyer – greyest).
Phonological Changes
Suffixation (the addition of -er and -est) is not only accompanied of changes in spelling but also in
pronunciation. For instance:
(1) The liquid consonant /r/, usually silent in final position and pronounced schwa; is
pronounced when the comparative and superlative suffixes are added (clever – cleverer)
(2) The lateral consonant /l/, usually pronounced as dark “l” in the positive degree, turns into
clear “l” when comparative and superlative suffixes are added (ex: noble – nobler – noblest)
(3) According to Huddleston, stems spelled with final -ng are in most varieties pronounced with
final nasal n, but with /nasal n + g/ when followed by an inflectional suffix (ex: long – longer)
 5. Educational Implications
The various aspects of the expression of quality dealt with in this study are relevant to the learning
of the vocabulary of a foreign language since differences between the vocabulary of the learner’s
native language (L1) and that of the foreign language (L2) may lead to several problems, such as
the incorrect use of quality expressions, especially because of the syntactic, morphological and
semantic processes carried out in the formation of comparative and superlative forms, as well as
comparison at the same degree still problematic for Spanish students of English.
This study has looked at the expressions of quality within lexical semantics, morphology and
syntax to stablish a relative similarity between the two languages that Spanish – speaking
students would find useful for learning English if these connections were brought to their attention.
An adult Spanish ESL student generally perceives that there is a great distance from Spanish to
English, but a realization of how many words there are in common between current Spanish and
English can offer a learner a “bridge” to the new language.
It has been suggested that a methodology grounded in part in the application of explicit linguistic
knowledge enhances the second language learning process.
So far, I have attempted in this discussion to provide a broad account of the expression of quality
between Spanish and English that I hope prove successful and complete.

6. Conclusion
Although the questions What is your house like? and Can you describe me? may appear simple,
they imply a broad description of the means that make an appropriate answer suitable for students
and teachers. I have provided a descriptive account of the Expression of Quality in this unit, whose
main aim was to introduce the student to the different ways of expressing quality in English. The
study provided a broad account of the notion of quality, starting by a theoretical framework to get
some key terminology on the issue.
Once the notion of quality was presented, I discussed how adjectives, adverbs, and other
constructions reflected this notion.
Lexical items and vocabulary, and therefore, the expression of quality, is currently considered to
be a central element in communicative competence and in the acquisition of a second language.
The teaching of quality expressions comprises four major components in our educational
curriculum: phonology, grammar, lexicon, and semantics, out of which we get five major levels;
phonological, morphological and syntactic, lexical and semantic.
For our students to express quality properly, they must have a good knowledge at all these levels.
First, on phonology which describes the sound level. Second, since the two most basic units of
grammar are the word and the sentence, they must have good grammatical knowledge, which
involves the morphological level and the syntactic level. Third, the lexical level lists vocabulary
items, that is, different adjectives, adverbs and other expressions to denote quality. Finally, the
semantic level to which all four of the major components are related, especially for those ways of
expressing quality since it marks relevant differences in similar sentences.
The expression of quality proves highly frequent in our everyday speech, and consequently, we
must encourage our students to have a good managing of it.

7. Bibliography
 Council of Europe (1998) Modern Langua A Common European Framework of Reference.
 Quirk & Greenbaum, A University Grammar of English
 Thomson, A.J. & Martinet, A.V. A Practical English Grammar
 Leech & Svartvik, A Communicative Grammar of English