1. DEGREES OF COMPARISON
The Degrees of Comparison in
English grammar are made
with
the Adjective and Adverb
words to show how big or small,
high
or low, more or less, many
or
few, etc., of the qualities,
numbers and positions of the
nouns (persons, things and
places) in comparison to the
others mentioned in the other
part of a sentence/expression.
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2. Kinds of Degrees of comparison
Kinds of degrees of comparison
POSITIVE DEGREE
Degree of equality
COMAPRATIVE DEGREE SUPERLATIVE DEGREE
Pr ogr essive degr ee
Par allel degr ee
Degree of inequality
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3. Positive Degree
Posit ive Degr ee
Degr ee of equalit y
Degr ee of inequalit y
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4. POSITIVE DEGREE
 One noun – person, thing or place – and one quality… above average
tall
– adjective
 John is a
man.
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5. Positive degree (continued)
 Eifel tower is a
tall
man-made structure.
One noun with one quality – ‘tall’ adjective in positive form
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6. Degree of equality

The adjective or adverb is in positive form
showing that two persons or things are the
same – two nouns having the same quality.
The common conjunction used is “as…as”.
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7. Degree of equality: example 1
 John is
as
strong
as
James.
‘strong’ – adjective in positive form showing equality
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8. Degree of in equality
 The adjective or adverb is in positive
form showing that two persons or things
are not the same – two nouns not having
the same quality.
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9. Degree of inequality

Peter is not
as (so)
fast
as
Paul.
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10. COMPARATIVE DEGREE
Two persons, things or places are being
compared with one adjective or adverb
to show that one has more quality or
quantity of the adjective or adverb than
the other.
The adjective or adverb takes ‘r’ or ‘er’
to its positive form, and is said to be in
comparative form.
The conjunction ‘than’ is used to connect
the two clauses.
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11. WAYS OF MAKING
COMPARISON
One-syllable
adjectives + (-e)r
If the one-syllable
adjective ends in
V+C+V, double the
final consonant and
add –er for the
comparative form
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Two-syllable
adjectives + more
If the two-syllable
adjectives ends
with –y, change the
y to i and add –er
for the comparative
form
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12. Two-syllable
adjectives ending
in –er, -le, or –ow
take –er.
adjectives with
three syllables or
more+ more
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Two-syllable
adjectives that follow
two rules. These
adjectives can be
used with -er and -est
and with more and
most
Example: clever,
gentle, friendly,
quiet, simple
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13. SUPERLATIVE DEGREE
► Comparing one noun – person, thing or place –
with several others of its kind to show that this
particular noun has the highest degree of the
quality or quantity of the adjective or adverb being
used to compare.
► The adjective or adverb takes the ‘superlative
form’, ending with ‘st’ or ‘est’, with the definite
article ‘the’ before it.
► The preposition ‘of’ is used when the comparison
is among items, and ‘in’ is used to specify the
place, position or area.
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14. Superlative Degree:
example 1

The elephant is the largest of all land animals.

The giraffe is the tallest of all animals.
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15. Superlative Degree: example 2

Susan is t he most intelligent girl in the class.
Susan
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16. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 1
• Gerald is
fast
the fastest
the faster
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footballer in our team.
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17. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 2

Tom is a
stronger
the strongest
strong
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boy.
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18. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 3

This man is
sad
happy
angry
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, but that man is
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.
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19. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet
4
 Kate is
more active
activer
active
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than Sue.
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20. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 5
• The white flower is as
the most beautiful
more beautiful
beautiful
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as the red flower.
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21. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 7
 The sea is getting
.
rough and rough
rougher and rougher
the rougher and the rougher
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22. Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 8
 Mt. Everest is
higher than
high
the highest
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mountain in the world.
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