COMPARISION OF ADJECTIVES  (DEGREES OF COMPARISION)

Definition:

Change in adjective form is called degrees of comparison.

Examples:

  • Ram’s mango is sweet
  • Hari’s mango is sweeter than ram’s
  • Govind’s mango is the sweetest of all.


Classification:

There are three degrees of comparison.

  1. The positive degree
  2. The comparative degree
  3. The superlative degree

 

The positive degree

It denotes the simple quality of what we speak about.
It is used when no comparison is made.

Examples:

  • she has a beautiful pen.
  • He is a good boy.
  • He sang a sweet song.

The comparative degree

It denotes a higher degree of the quality
It is used when two things are compared.

Examples:

  • veena is more beautiful than reena.
  • which of these two pens is the better



The superlative degree

It denotes the highest degree of the quality
It is used when more than two things of the same class are compared.

Examples:

  • He is the best player of our team
  • It is the coldest place in the region

***Notes:

When a thing or a person is to be compared with another thing or a person of the same kind, we can use the positive degree or the comparative degree.

Example 1: positive- He is as dull as an ass
comparative- An ass is not duller than he is.

Example 2 : positive-She is not so wise as her sister
comparative-Her sister is wiser than she is.

 

Affirmatice Sentence:

An affirmative sentence in the positive degree becomes negative in the comparative degree and vice versa.

  • in the affirmative sentence,the positive degree is used with as……..as.
  • in the negative sentence,the positive degree is used with so…..as




When one thing is to be compared with many other things or persons of the same kinds, we can use the following table:

Type:1

Snapshot_2009-08-11_18-17-04

Examples:

  • Positive: No other dramatist of England was so great as shakespeare
  • Comparative: Shakespeare was greater than any other dramatist of England
  • Superlative: Shakespeare was the greatest dramatist of England

Type:2

Snapshot_2009-08-11_18-24-47

Examples:

  • Positive: some men of the village are at least as rich as Mohan
  • Comparative: Mohan is not richer than some other men of the village
  • Superlative: Mohan is not the richest man of the village

 

Type:3

Snapshot_2009-08-11_18-29-29

Example:

  • Positive: very few seaports in India are so large as kolkatta
  • Comparative: kolkatta is larger than most other seaports in India.
  • Superlative: kolkatta is one of the largest seaports in India

 

Type:4

Snapshot_2009-08-11_18-32-33

 

Example:

  • Positive: Delhi is not so big as some other cities of India
  • Comparative: some other cities of India are bigger than Delhi
  • Superlative: Delhi is not one of the biggest cities in India

 

FORMATION OF COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES.

They can be formed by the following rules:

1.If the positive ends in two consonants,or in a single consonant preceded by two vowels,er and est are added.

Example:          positive comparative superlative
bold              bolder          boldest
great             greater         greatest

 

2.When the positive ends in e,only r and st are added.

Example: positive comparative superlative
able           abler            ablest
fine            finer            finest

 

3.When the positive ends in y,preceded by a consonant,the y is changed into i,before adding er and est.

Example: positive comparative superlative
dry         drier            driest
happy     happier        happiest

 

4.But if the y is preceded by a vowel,the y is not changed in to i.

Example: positive comparative superlative
gay       gayer             gayest
grey      greyer            greyest


5.When the positive is a word of one syllable and ends in a single consonant,preceded by a vowel,this consonant is doubled before adding er and est.

Example: positive comparative superlative
big          bigger           biggest
fat           fatter          fattest


6.In all the adjectives of more than two syllables,and in most adjectives of two syllables,the comparative is formed by adding more and the superlative is formed by adding most.

Example: positive comparative superlative
beautiful    more beautiful  most beautiful

 

IRREGULAR COMPARISONS

The following adjectives are compared irregularly,that is,their comparative and superlative are not formed from the positive:

Example: positive comparative superlative
bad         evil                worst
little        less                least

 

Thankyou,

Rajkumar






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