Degree of comparison

ByWidya Kurnia Arizona

Degree 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 or expression.

Kind of comparison :

a. Positive degreeb.Comparative degreec. Superlative degree

POSITIVE DEGREE Equal/positive degree is used to compare two things or persons which have same characteristic and feature.The primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification,comparison, or relation to increase or diminution positiveAdjective- a word that expresses an attribute of something Adverb- a word that modifies something other then a noun.

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.

Example: 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 as…as  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. Example: 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 so…as (and the negative ‘not’) it expresses the ‘degree of inequality’

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2. COMPARATIVE DEGREE: A comparative form is used to compare two thiings or persons that are different.

Pattern 1

Example:

Adjective : Widya is taller than Kurnia,This year’s exhibit is less impresive than last year’s

Adverb : Uni speaks English more fluently than Umi He visits his family less frequently than his wife does

 SUBJECT

 VERB

Adjective + er  THAN

 NOUN

Adverb + er

PRONOUN

More+Adjective/Adverb

Less + Adjective/Adverb

Pattern 2 The+comparative+subject+verb+the+comparative+subject+verb Example:

The sooner you come, the better you will beThe higher you climb, the nicer you will feel

Pattern 3 

The more+subject+verb+the+comparative+subject+verb Example :

The more you study,the more successfull you will beThe more he rowed the boat,the farther away he got

Pattern 4 ( multi number comparatives )

Number multiples arrest half,twice,three times etc Example:This encyclopedia costs twice as much as the other one.

Umi has half as many records now as i had last year.

SUBJECT VERB NUMBER MULTIPLE

AS MUCH (NOUN) AS NOUN MANY PRONOUN

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3. SUPERLATIVE DEGREEThis 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.Pattern 1

Subject+ verb+ the+ adjective+est+..... Example: Borobudur is the biggest temple in Indonesia

The Nile is the longest river in the world Pattern 2

Subject+verb+the+most+adjective+........

Example: London is the most expensive city in the worldAndi is the most dilligent students in his classnext

The rules of degree comparison

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 bravestlarge — 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 sweetesttall — 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  reddestthin — thinner — the  thinnesthot – 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 beautifuldifficult more difficult the most difficultsplendid more splendid 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  worstlittle — 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  farthestfore — former — the  foremost/first*fore –  further  — the  furthestin — inner  — the  inmost/inner mostup — upper  — the  upmost/uppermostout — 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, oldestFar – farther, further; farthest, furthest;   near – nearest, nextLater, latter; latest, lastLater and latest refer to timeLatter and last refer to position

He is later than I expected (he has come late) I have not heard the latest news.  (recent news)The latter chapters of the book are interesting(order of position)The last chapter is bad.  (order of position)

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)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)

example

Less/lesserThese two words are the comparative forms of the word ‘little’.The difference is: “less” suggests ‘amount’, and “lesser” suggests degree showingsome ‘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 we’d 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 positionin 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 mostThese 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.