Degrees of Adjectives, Comparative and Superlative
An adjective is a word which modifies a noun or pronoun. They modify the attached nouns and give more information.
Examples; hot tea, pink skirt, intelligent person.
Every adjectives has it’s three degrees. Positive adjectives, superlative adjectives, comparative adjectives. These degrees of an adjective express the intensity of adjective in increasing order.
Some examples;
- Happy(positive) – happier (comparative) – happiest (superlative)
- Lucky (positive) – luckier (comparative) – luckiest (superlative)
- Old(positive) – older (comparative) – oldest (superlative)
A comparative adjective is used to show a characteristic or a property of one thing (noun or pronoun) in a comparison to another thing (only one thing). It makes comparison between two things (not more than two). “Than” is used in a comparative sentence. They use to show comparison of the two things.
For example;
- A bus is bigger than a car.
- My mother is taller than my brother.
A superlative adjective is used to show a characteristic or a property of one thing (noun or pronoun) in a comparison to many other things (many things, more than one). It makes comparison of one thing to many other things. A superlative degree expresses highest intensity (quality or quantity) of a thing in a comparison to other many things (not one but more than one).
A superlative adjective states that a thing is surpassing all the other things in terms of property, characteristic or quantity.
Words like “of” and “in” are used after a superlative degree in the sentence. An article “the” should be used before a superlative degree when modifying a particular noun.
The biggest cat i have ever seen.
Words with more than two syllables take the “more” and “most” suffix.
Examples;
- More active – most active
- More beautiful – most beautiful
- More famous – most famous
Note; Some adjectives do not follow any of the rules explained earlier. They are compared irregularly. Here are the different forms of such adjectives.
Examples;
- Bad – worse – worst
- Good – better – best
- Much – more – most
