Degree of Adjective

 Degree of Adjective

Degree of Adjective

Degree of Adjective: 

• I am tall 

• I am short 

• I am taller than you 

• I am shorter than you 

The word ‘short’ and ‘tall’ qualify two persons. These two qualifying words tell us one of the men is tall and the other is short. On the other hand, the other forms of the words, ‘taller’ and ‘shorter’ compare their height. The words ‘short’, ‘tall’ are called adjectives. Different form of these adjectives is used to compare two or more things or to compare their qualities.  

Remember that, the base form of the words ‘short’ and ‘tall’ is called positive degree or positive degree of adjectives. When they are used to compare between two, the base words become ‘shorter’ and ‘taller’ respectively. This form of adjectives is called comparative degree. If we compare between three or more, the base form changes to ‘shorter’ and ‘tallest’ respectively and this form of the adjectives is superlative.  

Formation of Comparative and Superlative:  

1. Adjective of one syllable take ‘er’ to form comparatives and ‘Est’/’st’ to form their superlative degree.  

Positive comparative superlative 

tall taller tallest            short shorter shortest            small smaller smallest                fast     faster     fastest                 slow      slower      slowest 

black blacker blackest             bright brighter brightest cheap cheaper cheapest          close          closer          closest 

cold colder coldest           cool cooler coolest           deep                                     deeper                                            deepest                             few                                        fewer                                              fewest                                      fine       finer                              finest       great                               greater                                            greatest                             high                                       higher                                              highest                               large                                      larger                                               largest                                         long                                       longer                                              longest                              low                                        lower                                               lowest                                      new                                       newer                                              newest                                      noble                                     nobler                                             noblest                                  poor                                       poorer                                            poorest                              quick                                      quicker                                           quickest                              rich                                         richer                                              richest                                  safe                                        safer                                                safest                                 short                                      shorter                                            shortest  

Simple                                    simpler                                         simplest 

Soft                                         softer                                             softest 

Strong                                    stronger                                          strongest 

Sweet                                     sweeter                                          sweetest 

Thick                                       thicker                                            thickest 

Weak                                      weaker                                            weakest 

Young                                     younger                                           youngest 

 

Now let’s have a look at this conversation: 

Alim: Sarwar, you are short. 

Sarwar: Probably I am shorter than you.  

Alim: Sorry Sarwar, I am taller than you.  

Sarwar: But you are not the tallest student in the class. 

Alim: I agree, Riad is the tallest boy in our class. Who is the shortest student in our class? 

Sarwar: I am sure, it is not me. Probably, Raihana is the shortest student in our class. 

Alim: Sorwer, we should not label on as tall, taller tallest or, short, shorter, shortest without measuring their heights.  

Sarwar: You are right, Alim.  

 

2. If a one syllable adjective ends in a vowel followed by a consonant, the consonant becomes double when any suffix (er, Est) is added. If there are two vowels before the last consonant of the adjective, the last consonant will not be doubled (sweet, sweeter, sweeter). Read the adjective from the following table and notice their comparative and superlative forms.: 

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Big	Bigger	Biggest
Fat	Fatter	Fattest
Fit	Fitter	Fittest
Glad	Glader	Gladdest
Hot	Hotter	Hottest
Red	Redder	Reddest
Sad	Sadder	saddest
Thin	Thiner	Thinnest

 

 

More about Degree:  

Read the following positive, comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.  

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Busy	Busier	Busiest
Dirty	Dirtier	Dirtiest
Dry	Drier	Driest
Easy	easier	Easiest
Happy	Happier	Happiest
Healthy	Healthier	Healthiest
Heavy	Heavier	Heaviest
Hungry	Hungrier	Hungriest
Lovely	Lovelier	Loveliest
Ugly	Uglier	Ugliest

 

Note: if one syllable adjectives end in consonant followed by ‘y’, ‘y’ is changed into ‘i’ and ‘er/Est’ is added to comparative and superlative forms. Remember that, if the last ‘y’ is preceded by a vowel, the ‘y’ remains unchanged and ‘er’, ‘Est’ are used to make comparative and superlative forms respectively. For instance, grey, greyer, greyest.  

Now read the positive, comparative and superlative forms of adjectives from the list below.  

 

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Active	More active	Most active
Attentive	More Attentive	Most Attentive
beautiful	More beautiful	Most beautiful
careful	More careful	Most careful
comfortable	More comfortable	Most comfortable
difficult	More difficult	Most difficult
famous	More famous	Most famous
generous	More generous	Most generous
interesting	More interesting	Most interesting
obedient	More obedient	Most obedient

 

Note: comparative and superlative adjectives made of more than two syllables are made adding ‘more’ and ‘most’ before the adjectives respectively. Now read the list of adjectives and look at the comparative and superlative forms of them.  

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Bad	worse	worst
far	Farther	farthest
Fore	former	foremost
Good	Better	best
late	Later	Latest
Little	Less	least
many/much	older/elder	oldest/eldest
out	outer	outmost
Up	upper	upmost

 

Read the following sentences to experience how to transform sentences containing the degrees of comparison to each other:  

1. Positive to comparative: 

• Positive: Faridul is as tall as Riad.  

            Comparative: Riad is not taller than Faridul. 

      *  Positive: Khorshed is as handsome as Subrato. 

          Comparative: Subrato is not more handsome than Khorshed. 

2. Comparative to Superlative:  

      *  Comparative: My father is older than any other men in the village.  

           Superlative: My father is the oldest man in the village.  

      * Comparative: Milk is more nutritious than any other drink. 

          Superlative: Milk is the most nutritious drink.  

3. Superlative to Positive:  

• Superlative: Atanu is the best boy in class eight.  

            Positve: no other boy in class eight is as good as Atanu.  

      * Superlative: Shamsur Rahman is the most famous modern poet of  BD 

          Positive: No other poet of BD is so famous as Shamsur Rahman.  

• Superlative: Sraboni is one of the most intelligent girls in the class.  

          Positive: Very few girls in the class are as intelligent as Sraboni.  

4. Interchange of Degrees:  

• Positive: Very few airlines are better than most as Apollo Airlines.  

            Comparative: Apollo Airlines is better than most other airlines.  

            Superlative: Apollo Airlines in one of the best airlines. 

• Positive: No other man in the locality is so active as MR. Anwar.  

            Comparative: Mr. Anwar is more active than any other man in the locality 

            Superlative: Mr. Anwar is the most active man in the locality.  

Note: Superlative degrees always take definite articles before them. For instance: the best boy; the greatest dramatist; the most handsome man; and the happiest man.