Regular Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs
To show how they differ in degree or extent, most adjectives and adverbs have three degrees
(or forms)—the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.
One-syllable words form these degrees in a regular way.
➲ The
positive degree (or form) is used when an adjective or adverb modifier is not
being compared.
The young sister walked with her brother. (Young simply states the
sister’s age.)
➲ The comparative degree (or form) is used when two people, places, things, or ideas
are compared. Add -er to these words to form the comparative. The younger sister
walked with her father. (The sister’s age is being compared to the age of another
sister.)
➲The superlative degree (or form) is used when more than two people, places,
things, or ideas are compared. Add -est to these words to form the superlative.
The youngest sister walked with her mother. (The sister’s age is compared to the ages of
at least two other sisters.)
| Positive Degree | Comparative Degree | Superlative Degree |
tall | taller | tallest |
fast | faster | fastest |
large | larger | largest |
small | smaller | smallest |
light | lighter | lightest |
Notes
Practical English Grammar - Notes
7. Regular Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs
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14. agreement involving prepositional phrases
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23. Irregular Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs
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34. the infinitive and infinitive phrase
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41. Parentheses Ellipsis Marks and Dashes
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48. the noun adjective pronoun question
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49. Indefinite pronouns and the possessive case
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