DEGREES OF COMPARISON

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/expression.

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 Kinds of Degrees of comparison

Kinds of degrees of comparison

POSITIVE DEGREE COMAPRATIVE DEGREE SUPERLATIVE DEGREE

Degree of equality Progressive degree Parallel degree

Degree of inequality

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 Positive Degree

Positive Degree

Degree of equality

Degree of inequality

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 POSITIVE DEGREE

 One noun – person, thing or place – and one quality… above average
tall
– adjective
 John is a
man.

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 Positive degree (continued)

 Eifel tower is a
tall
man-made structure.
One noun with one quality – ‘tall’ adjective in positive form

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Degree of equality
The adjective or adverb is in positive form
showing that two persons or things are the
same – two nouns having the same quality.
 The common conjunction used is “as…as”.

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 Degree of equality: example 1
 John is
as
strong
as
James.
‘strong’ – adjective in positive form showing equality

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Degree of inequality

 The adjective or adverb is in positive

form showing that two persons or things
are not the same – two nouns not having
the same quality.

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 Degree of inequality

 Peter is not
as (so)
fast
as
Paul.

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COMPARATIVE DEGREE
Two persons, things or places are being
compared with one adjective or adverb
to show that one has more quality or
quantity of the adjective or adverb than
the other.
The adjective or adverb takes ‘r’ or ‘er’
to its positive form, and is said to be in
comparative form.
The conjunction ‘than’ is used to connect
the two clauses.

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Comparative Degree: example

 A horse can run

faster
than
a dog.

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Degree of Comparison:

Comparative degree

Progressive Degree

Parallel Degree

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 Progressive Degree
Two adjectives or adverbs are being
compared to show that one
continues to increase (or decrease)
when the other increases (or
decreases).
The adjective or adverb is in its
comparative form with the definite
article ‘the’ before it.

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 Progressive Degree: example

 The steeper the hill, the more difficult it is to

push the rock up!

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Parallel Degree

 The quality or quantity of the adjective or

adverb continues to increase (or
decrease) as the time passes.
 The adjective or adverb in its comparative
form is repeated using the conjunction
‘and’.

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 Parallel Degree: example

► The days are getting hotter and hotter.

► It is getting hotter and hotter day by day.

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 SUPERLATIVE DEGREE
► Comparing one noun – person, thing or place –
with several others of its kind to show that this
particular noun has the highest degree of the
quality or quantity of the adjective or adverb being
used to compare.
► The adjective or adverb takes the ‘superlative
form’, ending with ‘st’ or ‘est’, with the definite
article ‘the’ before it.
► The preposition ‘of’ is used when the comparison
is among items, and ‘in’ is used to specify the
place, position or area.
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 Superlative Degree: example 1

 The elephant is the largest of all land animals.

 The giraffe is the tallest of all animals.

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Superlative Degree: example 2
 Susan is the most intelligent girl in the class.
Susan

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 Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 1

• Gerald is footballer in our team.

fast
the fastest
the faster

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Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 2

 Tom is a boy.
stronger
the strongest
strong
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Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 3

 This man is , but that man is .

sad
happy
angry

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Degrees of Comparison: worksheet
4

 Kate is than Sue.

more active
activer
active

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 Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 5

• The white flower is as as the red flower.

the most beautiful
more beautiful
beautiful

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Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 6

the weights, the it is to lift

them.
The heavy
the difficult
The heavier
the more difficult

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Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 7

 The sea is getting .

rough and rough
rougher and rougher
the rougher and the rougher

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 Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 8

 Mt. Everest is mountain in the world.

higher than
high
the highest

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