1. Grade and comparison
11 January 2013
Based on
“A student’s Introduction to English
Grammar”,
R. Huddleston, G. Pullum
2. Comparative and superlative grade
Many adjectives inflect for grade: they have plain, comparative and
superlative forms.
ADJECTIVE DETERMINATIVE ADVERB
I PLAIN tall many soon
II COMPARATIVE taller more sooner
III SUPERLATIVE tallest most soonest
The inflected forms of tall and soon are regular (i.e., they are formed
by general rules). The forms for many, however, are irregular
3. The superlative and set comparison
• I Max was the tallest boy in the class.
• II A prize will be given to whoever scores the most points.
• III I chose the life policy that will mature the soonest
In [I], the comparison is between the set of boys in the class with
respect to height: Max occupies a higher position on this scale than
all the others.
In [II], the set is not expressed in the sentence itself but it is implicit: it
consists of those participating in some competition in which points
are scored. The scale is the number of points scored. The prize will
be given to the participant who ranks top on this scale.
In [III], the comparison is between a set of life insurance policies,
ranked by date of maturing. I chose the one that matures before all
the others.
4. The comparative and term comparison
The comparative form, by contrast, is predominantly used in term comparison
-comparison between a primary term and a secondary term
• I Max is taller than Tom.
• II Sue scored more runs than I did.
• III This policy will mature sooner than that one.
In [I] the comparison is between Max's height and Tom's height. The sentence does
not say how tall either of them is absolutely, but expresses the relation between
them. We can describe the meaning by using variables, as in algebra: "Max is x tall;
Tom is y tall; x > y (i.e. x exceeds y)".
The primary term in [I] is "Max is x tall", and the secondary one is "Tom is
y tall".
In [II], "Sue scored x many runs" is primary and "I scored y many runs" is
secondary.
In [III], "this policy matures x soon" is primary and "that policy matures y soon"
is secondary.
5. Set comparison with comparatives
Comparative grade is also used in set comparison when the set has just
two members:
COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
a. Kim is the taller of the two. b. Kim is the tallest of the three.
The comparative form taller is inadmissible in [b] .
Non-inflectional marking of grade
comparative and superlative grade may be marked by a separate word, more or
most, rather than by inflection. Examples are given in:
7. Less and least
The words less and least similarly belong to both the determinative and
adverb classes. As determinatives they are inflectional forms of little; as
adverbs they function as degree modifiers. These examples illustrate for the
comparative:
(a) The determinative less
Matters are complicated, however, by the fact that less (unlike little) is often used
with plurals:
i It costs less than twenty dollars.
ii Less/Fewer than twenty people attended the meeting.
iii He 's had fewer/less jobs than me.
8. (b) The adverb less
More marks superiority (a higher degree on the relevant scale), while less
marks inferiority (a lower degree).
Comparison of equality
Superiority and inferiority represent two kinds of inequality, but there are also
comparisons of equality. This, like inferiority, is always marked by a modifying
adverb, rather than by inflection :
I Kim is as tall as Pat.
II Kim is as energetic as Pat.
In some contexts, primarily negatives, the adverb as is replaceable by so, and
in some familiar phrases it is omitted altogether:
I It wasn't so straight forward as I'd been led to expect.
II The sea was flat as a pancake.
9. Non-scalar comparison
There is also a type of comparison where the issue is not a matter of relative
degree but simply of identity or similarity. We call this non-scalar comparison.
The prepositions as and than are found here too, so we can generalise the
contrast between equality (marked by as) and inequality (marked by than):
There are two items, however, that license a than complement for all speakers,
namely other and else:
I There must be some other way of doing it than this.
II Anyone else than you would have complained.
10. Comparative clauses type
The prepositions than and as often take as complement a distinctive
of subordinate clause called a comparative clause:
A further case of as in non-scalar comparison of equality
In the examples of preposition as + comparative clause given so far, the as is in
construction with the adverb as marking scalar equality or with the adjective
same marking non-scalar equality. As can also occur in non-scalar comparison
without any such preceding item to license it:
I As we'd expected, he refused to compromise.
II He didn't behave as he usually does.
11. Comparative clauses as complement to like
In non-scalar comparison of equality we also find comparative clauses after the
preposition like - though like takes content clauses as well. Compare, then:
I They don 't get on like they used to. [comparative clause]
II It looks like it 's going to rain. [content clause]
12. Exercises
1. Re-express the content of the following in a more natural way using
comparative or superlative constructions.
i The extent to which my dad is big exceeds the extent to which yours is.
ii Brian is the swimmer who is ranked top in the world as regards speed.
iii That is a fish that is ugly beyond the ugliness of any fish I have ever seen.
iv I wish I had a degree of intelligence that outstrips what I actually have.
v The extent to which you are a good guitarist would increase if the time you
practised were to increase.
13. 2. Underline all the comparative clauses (and nothing else) in the following
examples (all from Lewis Carroll's Alice books, Alice in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass).
i It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into
the garden with one eye.
ii 'But then,' thought Alice, 'shall I NEVER get any older than I am now ?‘
iii 'If everybody minded their own business,”the Duchess said in a hoarse
growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does.'
iv This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great
disgust, and walked off.
v It was evidently more than he could manage by himself; however, she
managed to shake him out of it at last.
The more of the [b] examples here is a determinative, the comparative counterpart of plain many and much in the corresponding [a] examples. The determinative is functioning as determiner in NP structure in [i] and [ii], and as an adjunct of degree in the clause in [iii ] . Here more is an adverb. In [i] it modifies the adjective expensive; in [ii] it modifies the adverb tactfully. It is a marker of the comparative grade. The crucial difference between [9] and [8] is that there is no much or many in the plain grade version in [9] .
As a determinative, less is syntactically quite similar to its opposite more, but there are also significant differences. More is the comparative form of both many and much, which occur with plural and non-count singular nouns respectively. In [i] twenty dollars is construed as a sum of money, rather than a set of individual dollars ; jewer than twenty dollars would be unusual. In [ii], where we again have a numeral after than, both forms are possible, with fewer less common and somewhat formal . In [iii], the determinative is followed immediately by a plural noun. This use of less is informal; it is avoided by many speakers, and generally condemned by usage manuals.
