Degrees of Comparison 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 not the 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 twotwo groups 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. Positive comparative superlative a) the words which end in e belong to his group and take only r in comparative form and st in superlative form:

brave braver the bravest large larger the largest wise wiser the wisest b) the words which end in any letter other than e and/or y belong to this group and take er in comparative form and est in superlative from: sweet sweeter the sweetest tall taller the tallest young younger the youngest c) the words which end in y preceded by a consonant belong to this group; they lose the last letter y and take ier in the comparative form and iest in superlative form: happy happier the happiest easy easier the easiest heavy heavier the heaviest The words which end in y preceded by a vowel, however, do not change their spelling but take r/er in comparative form and st/est in superlative form: e.g. gay gayer gayest (this word is now considered old-fashioned in the sense of happy; excited, and in the present day English it is used for male homosexual). d) the words which end in a consonant having a vowel before that consonant belong to this group, and have their last consonant letter doubled before taking er in comparative form and est in superlative form: red redder the reddest thin thinner the thinnest hot hotter the hottest e) the words which have two or more vowel sounds in them belong to this group, and take the word more before them in comparative form and the word (the) most in superlative form: beautiful more beautiful the most beautiful

difficult splendid

more difficult more splendid

the most difficult the most splendid

f) the words in this group do not take any suffix or any other word before them, but change their spelling and pronunciation entirely to form new words with the same meaning, of course: good/well better the best bad/evil/ill worse the worst little less/lesser* the least much more the most many more the most late later/latter* the latest/last* old older/elder* the oldest/eldest* far farther the farthest fore former the foremost/first* fore further the furthest in inner the inmost/inner most up upper the upmost/uppermost out outer/utter the utmost/utter most There are some words in the list that take more than one form in comparative and superlative form. Each of the two words gives a different meaning; therefore, it is best to know them well before going any further in this topic. Late later, latter; latest, last; old elder, older; eldest, oldest Far farther, further; farthest, furthest; near nearest, next Later, latter; latest, last Later and latest refer to time

Latter and last refer to position e.g. He is later than I expected. (recent news) (he has come late) I have not heard the latest news.

The latter chapters of the book are interesting. (order of position) The last chapter is bad. (order of position) [Suppose there are ten chapters in a book, the latter chapters could be Chapters 7,8,9 & 10; the last chapter is chapter 10. latter is also used to talk about the second of the two people or things mentioned.] The word latter is, strictly speaking, used for only two persons or things; however, it is also used for three persons or things, as in the latter of the three, but in American English. Elder, older; eldest, oldest Elder and eldest are used only of persons seniority than age. (they are used with members of the same family.) ** Elder is not used with conjunction than. Older and oldest are used of both persons and things time (age) 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: BIRTH AND GROWTH IN EGYPT The first we hear of Moses is that a man of the tribe of Levi marries a woman of the same tribe. This may the only time that the Torah mention that both parents are of the same tribe. In this to emphasis that despite Moses growing up as an Egyptian he is a Hebrew? They have a son. 1From this it would appear that Moses is a firstborn, but he has an older brother Aaron and an older sister Miriam. Thus Moses appears to be an oldest and a youngest. The Midrash has a different explanation. In Egypt a prophecy ...] _______________ Less/lesser These two words are the comparative forms of the word little. The difference is: less suggests amount, and lesser suggests degree showing some negative sense in a choice of two! For example, She has less money than he (has). Which is the lesser of the two evils, drinking or smoking? [Both drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco are evils, but wed like to compare and decide which one is more harmful more negative -- in this choice of two!] 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 in a group of people or things; for example,

Gerald Durrell is one of the foremost authorities on animal protection plans. Gerald Durrell is the first person to start a Trust (zoo) to protect the endangered species of animals from around the world Inmost/innermost ; upmost/uppermost; utmost/utter most These pairs of words are synonyms. There are sentences where both these words are used for the same context. Learners at this basic level need not worry about these pairs right now. [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 animals in 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 most unfortunate. 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] The positive 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 not the 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 of inequality 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 article the 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 article the 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.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ SOME EXTRAORDINARY RULES There are some exceptions to some of the rules we have already discussed, and it is necessary for any learner to know them and apply them whenever they are needed. *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 = 1st person the person speaking or narrating something 2nd person the person spoken to (the person listening to the speaker)

3rd person the rest of all the persons, animals and things that are talked about excluding the 1st and the 2nd persons Number = singular only one person, animal or thing; plural more than one person, animal or thing (two, ten, a hundred, a million, etc.) Gender = {masculine gender & feminine gender} (the sex of the person or animal) male or female = boy or girl, man or woman neuter very young babies of people; all the animals when spoken in general and all the things; not man, not woman common gender either man or woman; for example, A teacher is a person who teaches. A teacher can be a man or a woman, so it is common gender. CASE: nominative case = person, animal or thing that comes before the verb and does an action in a sentence e.g. He is a good boy. [He is the subject in this sentence.]

objective case = person, animal or thing that comes after the verb or preposition in a sentence e.g. He gave her a book. [Her is the object of the verb gave.]

He gave a book to her. [Her is the object of the preposition to] possessive case = used to show that something belongs somebody or something e.g. This is my book. This book is mine. My, our, your, your, his, her, its, their, their and their are called POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES because they are always used before nouns. Mine, ours, yours, yours, his, hers, its, theirs, theirs, and theirs are called POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS because they are used without nouns after them; the nouns whose possession they show are placed somewhere else in the sentence (expression). Reflexive pronouns = the action of a subject in the sentence comes back to the doer of the action when we use these Reflexive pronouns {They are also called reciprocal pronouns, but the function is different.} [My and mine show that the book belongs to me.]

e.g. I painted this picture myself. [Myself in this sentence shows that the subject I did the action of painting the picture, not bought or get somebody paint it for me. The action does not pass to any other object but comes back to the subject] They taught themselves. [Themselves in this sentence shows that the subject they did not get their education from any teacher or they did not teach anybody else, but got their education on their own.] 4. Nominative (subjective) Case or Accusative (objective) Case or Possessive (genitive) Case? There is a chance of our getting confused when using personal pronouns after than in comparative degree because the personal pronouns take different forms in different cases. For instance, the First Person Personal Pronoun in the Nominative Case is I, the same pronoun word in the Objective case (Accusative Case) is me and again in the Genitive Case it is my/mine. Therefore, while using them after the conjunction than in the comparative degree, we are bound to make some mistakes in placing the case of the pronoun in its right form. The following rules may clear some of the confusion: 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% Peter likes her 20% only

This sentence, if written in full is: Peter likes his books better than he (Peter) likes her. 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% James talked about them 20% only James talked about drinks more than they. [more than they talked about drinks] they is the nominative case form James talked about drinks 80% They talked about drinks 20% only {Therefore, it is to be understood that the case of the pronoun in Comparatives changes 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,

1. Abes book is more expensive than Jessica.

[wrong]

[Abes is in the possessive case, but Jessica is not in possessive case] Therefore, this sentence should be Abes book is more expensive than Jessicas (book). 2. His car is bigger than them. [wrong] [His car is in possessive case, but them is in objective case] Therefore, this sentence should be 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: 1. Riding a horse is not so easy as a motor bike. [wrong] (riding Gerundial form of the verb ride; in the second part no gerundial form Therefore, this sentence should be Riding a horse is not so easy as riding a motor bike. 2. It is nicer to go out with someone than alone. [wrong] (to go to-infinitive form of the verb go ; in the second part no to-infinitive form Therefore, this sentence should be It is nicer to go out with someone than to go out alone. e) Use of the definite article the + comparative form: (apart from the PARALLEL COMPARISON) 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,

Which one of these two girls is the stronger? However, this use of the comparative form is considered rather literary or very formal. And in informal or spoken English a superlative form is often used instead:the strongest? Which of these two girls is f) Certain comparatives taken from Latin language have no positive or superlative degree. They all end in or but not in er. They are twelve in all. Five of them lost their comparative meaning, and are used as positive forms. They are: exterior, interior, ulterior, major & minor e.g. The exterior wall of the house is made of stone; the interior walls are of wood. Her age is a matter of minor importance. I have no ulterior motive in offering you my help. The other seven are used as comparative forms but are followed by to instead of than. They are: Inferior, superior, prior, anterior, posterior, senior & junior e.g. A horse is inferior to Lilly in intelligence. Lillys intelligence is superior to a horses. He is junior to all his colleagues. All his colleagues are senior to him. g) Adjective words such as square, round, perfect, eternal, universal, and unique cannot be compared; but we often use them in comparatives, for example: e.g. This is the most perfect specimen I have seen. [used to show excitement] ********************************************* Interchange of Degree of Comparison sentences: 1. Lead is the heaviest of all metals. [superlative degree] {lead is pronounced as led} Lead is heavier than all other metals. [comparative degree] No other metal is so heavy as lead. [positive degree degree of inequality]

2. New York is one of the biggest of American cities. [superlative degree] New York is bigger than most other American cities. [comparative degree] Very few American cities are so/as big as New York. [positive degree inequality