Degrees of comparison

Qualitative adjectives have the grammatical category of degrees of comparison. There are three degrees: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative degree is used to compare some common feature of two or more things or people in terms of degree or quantity. The superlative degree is used to single out a thing or person as being special in relation to others.

She is smarter than you think.

He is the strongest boy in our group.

Comparatives can also have the meaning of “more than average”:

There will be an additional class for slower learners.

The definite article is used with the adjective in the comparative degree if we compare two objects:

I know the elder of the two sisters.

When the noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree preceded by the indefinite article, an extremely high degree of quality is meant; the idea of comparison is not expressed in these cases.

This was a most delicious dinner.

The degrees of comparison are built in synthetic, analytical and suppletive ways. There are also adjectives with irregular forms of degrees of comparison.

Synthetic way

The comparative degree is built by adding the inflection -er; the superlative degree is built by adding the inflection -est to the stem:

Dark - darker - darkest

The following adjectives build the degrees of comparison according to this pattern:

- monosyllabic adjectives and adjectives of two syllables ending in -y,-ow, -er, -ure, -le, e.g.

Long – longer - longest

Funny -funnier - funniest

Narrow -narrower - narrowest

Clever - cleverer - cleverest

Mature - maturer - maturest

Simple - simpler - simplest

The adjectives ending in -ow, -er, -ure, -le can also have analytical forms (more narrow, more mature, etc.).

- some common two-syllable adjectives, e.g.

Common - commoner - commonest

common- more common - most common

Handsome - handsomer - handsomest

Handsome - more handsome - most handsome

Quiet - quieter - quietest

Quiet - more quiet - most quiet

- adjectives of two syllables which have the stress on the final syllable, e.g.

Polite - politer - politest

Note: One-syllable adjectives ending in –ed and the adjectives real, right and wrong have analytical forms:

Now your story sounds more real.

Spelling rules

- If the adjective ends in a consonant preceded by a stressed short vowel, the consonant is doubled, e.g. sad - sadder - saddest, big - bigger - biggest.

- If the adjective ends in -y, preceded by a consonant, -y is changed into -i before -er and -est, e.g. busy - busier - busiest, happy - happier - happiest.

- If the adjective ends in -e, the -e is dropped before -er and –est, e.g. white – whiter – whitest.

Analytical way

Polysyllabic adjectives build the forms of the degrees of comparison with the help of the adverb more/most, e.g.

Important - more important - most important

Interesting - more interesting - most interesting

The adjectives real, right, wrong and like have analytical forms:

He is more like his father than his brother is.

This explanation seems more real.

Suppletive way

The adjectives good and bad have suppletive forms of the degrees of comparison:

Good - better - best, bad- -worse - worst.

Irregular forms

The following adjectives have irregular forms of degrees of comparison.

POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
many much	more	most
little	less	least
far	farther further	farthest furthest
old	older elder	oldest eldest
late	later	latest last
near	nearer	nearest next

The adjectives elder and eldest are used to speak about people’s ages in the same family.

Her elder sister is two years older than she is. But: He is my oldest friend.

Both farther and further can be used to speak about a ‘greater distance’, but only further is used in the meaning of ‘more’:

Go farther and you will see the house.

Who wants to read further explanations?

The adjective latest is used in talking about events and productions to refer to new or very recent things. Last can mean ‘before this’. Latest suggests there may be more to come, while last means ‘final’:

Do you know the latest news? What is the last story about?

Nearest is used to mean ‘most near in space’, while next is used to talk about time and series and means ‘nearest in the future’ or ‘after this/that one’:

Where is the nearest bus stop? Who is the next to answer?

In some expressions like ‘ next door ’ next means nearest in space:

My best friend lives next door.

Note: The adjective lesser doesn’t have degrees of comparison and is used to mean “smaller in size, amount or importance”. It is used in such phrases as: to a greater or lesser degree, the lesser of two evils, the lesser evil; it can be also used in compounds: a lesser-known artist.