Degrees of comparison

1. Degree
of
Compariso
n

2. There are three Degrees of
Comparison in English.
1. Positive degree
2. Comparative degree
3. Superlative degree

3. Positive Degree
• We use the Positive degree when we
speak about only one person or thing.
Examples:
• Lebron James is tall.
• The house is big.
• This flower is beautiful.

4. Comparative Degree
• We use the Comparative degree when we
compare two persons or two thingwith each
other.
Examples:
• Yao Ming is taller than Lebron James.
• This house is bigger than that one.
• She is nicer than him.

5. Superlative Degree
We use the Superlative degree when we
compare more than two persons or things with
one another.
It is the highest degree of the quality.
Example:
• Peter is the smartest boy in class.
• Alice is the sweetest girl in the neighborhood.
• The blue whale is the largest of all animals.

6. Rules in Degree of Comparison
1. Adjectives of one syllable
Adjectives of one syllable add -er and -est.
Adjectives ending on 'e' just add -r and -st.
Some adjectives double the final consonant.

7. Positive
small
warm
old
nice
big
Comparative
smaller
warmer
older
nicer
bigger
Superlative
smallest
warmest
oldest
nicest
biggest

8. Rules in Degree of Comparison
2. Adjectives of two syllables
• Some adjectives of two syllables add -er and
-est. For adjectives ending in 'y‘ – cut y then
add -ier and -iest.
• Adjectives ending in -ful, -less, -ing, -ed use
more and most.
• Some other adjectives of two syllables use
more and most (modern, famous, normal,
correct, ...).

9. Positive Comparative Superlative
narrow narrower narrowest
happy happier happiest
useful more useful most useful
boring more boring most boring
modern more modern most modern

10. 3. Adjectives of three or more syllables
• Adjectives of three or more syllables use
more and most.
Rules in Degree of Comparison

11. Positive Comparative Superlative
beautiful
more
beautiful
most
beautiful
dangerous
more
dangerous
most
dangerous
exciting more exciting most exciting

12. 4. Irregular adjectives
• You will have to memorize these.
Rules in Degree of Comparison

13. Positive Comparative Superlative
good /well better best
bad worse worst
little less least
much, many more most
far farther/further farthest