Degree 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 or expression. Kind of comparison : Positive degree Comparative degree Superlative degree POSITIVE DEGREE Equal/positive degree is used to compare two things or persons which have same characteristic and feature. The primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification,comparison, or relation to increase or diminution positive Adjective- a word that expresses an attribute of something Adverb- a word that modifies something other then a noun. There are two more comparisons with the ‘positive form’ of the adjective words. They are : (i)  Degree of Equality: This comparison is used to compare two persons, animals or things to tell us that they are equal – having the same quality. Example: There are  two cats with the same height and weight, and look the same except for the colour. Therefore we say: The brown cat is as beautiful as the grey cat.  (= Both the cats are the same.) The word “beautiful” is an adjective in the ‘positive form’, and with the conjunction as…as  it expresses the ‘degree of equality’. (ii)  Degree of Inequality: This comparison is used to compare two persons, animals or things to tell us that they are not equal – not having the same quality. Example: The brown cat is not so beautiful as the black & white cat.( They are not the same).The word “beautiful” is an adjective in the ‘positive form’, and with the conjunction so…as (and the negative ‘not’) it expresses the ‘degree of inequality’

1. Degree of comparison
By
Widya Kurnia Arizona

2. Degree 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
or expression.

3. Kind of comparison :
a. Positive degree
b. Comparative degree
c. Superlative degree

4. POSITIVE DEGREE
Equal/positive degree is used to compare two things or persons which have
same characteristic and feature.
The primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without
qualification,comparison, or relation to increase or diminution positive
Adjective- a word that expresses an attribute of something
Adverb- a word that modifies something other then a noun.
There are two more comparisons with the ‘positive form’ of the adjective
words. They are :
(i) Degree of Equality: This comparison is used to compare two persons,
animals or things to tell us that they are equal – having the same quality.
Example: There are two cats with the same height and weight, and look the
same except for the colour.
Therefore we say:
The brown cat is as beautiful as the grey cat. (= Both the cats are the same.)
The word “beautiful” is an adjective in the ‘positive form’, and with the
conjunction as…as it expresses the ‘degree of equality’.

5. (ii) Degree of Inequality: This comparison is
used to compare two persons, animals or
things to tell us that they are not equal – not
having the same quality.
Example: The brown cat is not so beautiful as
the black & white cat.( They are not the
same).
The word “beautiful” is an adjective in the
‘positive form’, and with the conjunction
so…as (and the negative ‘not’) it expresses
the ‘degree of inequality’
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6. 2. COMPARATIVE DEGREE:
A comparative form is used to compare two thiings or
persons that are different.
Pattern 1
Example:
Adjective : Widya is taller than Kurnia,
This year’s exhibit is less impresive than last year’s
Adverb : Uni speaks English more fluently than Umi
He visits his family less frequently than his wife does
SUBJECT VERB
Adjective + er
THAN NOUN
Adverb + er
PRONOUN
More+Adjective/Adverb
Less + Adjective/Adverb

7. Pattern 2
The+comparative+subject+verb+the+comparative+subject+verb
Example:
The sooner you come, the better you will be
The higher you climb, the nicer you will feel
Pattern 3
The more+subject+verb+the+comparative+subject+verb
Example :
The more you study,the more successfull you will be
The more he rowed the boat,the farther away he got

8. Pattern 4 ( multi number comparatives )
Number multiples arrest half,twice,three times etc
Example:
This encyclopedia costs twice as much as the other one.
Umi has half as many records now as i had last year.
SUBJECT VERB NUMBER
MULTIPLE
AS MUCH (NOUN) AS NOUN
MANY PRONOUN
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9. 3. SUPERLATIVE DEGREE
This comparison is used to compare one person, animal or
thing with more than two persons, animals or things (the
rest of the group of more than two), and to say that the
particular one has the highest degree of that particular
quality.
Pattern 1
Subject+ verb+ the+ adjective+est+.....
Example: Borobudur is the biggest temple in Indonesia
The Nile is the longest river in the world
Pattern 2
Subject+verb+the+most+adjective+........
Example: London is the most expensive city in the world
Andi is the most dilligent students in his class
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10. The rules of degree comparison
a) the words which end in ‘e’ belong to his group and take
only ‘r’ in comparative form and ‘st’ in superlative form:
brave — braver — the bravest
large — larger — the largest
wise — wiser — the wisest
b) the words which end in any letter other than ‘e’ and/or
‘y’ belong to this group and take ‘er’ in comparative form
and ‘est’ in superlative from:
sweet — sweeter — the sweetest
tall — taller — the tallest
young — younger — the youngest

11. c) the words which end in ‘y’ preceded by a consonant belong to this group; they
lose the last letter ‘y’ and take ‘ier’ in the comparative form and ‘iest’ in
superlative form:
happy — happier — the happiest
easy — easier — the easiest
heavy — heavier — the heaviest
The words which end in ‘y’ preceded by a vowel, however, do not change their
spelling but take ‘r/er’ in comparative form and ‘st/est’ in superlative form: e.g.
gay – gayer – gayest (this word is now considered old-fashioned in the sense of
‘happy; excited’, and in the present day English it is used for male homosexual).
d) the words which end in a ‘consonant’ having a ‘vowel’ before that consonant
belong to this group, and have their last consonant letter doubled before taking
‘er’ in comparative form and ‘est’ in superlative form:
red — redder — the reddest
thin — thinner — the thinnest
hot – hotter — the hottest
e) the words which have ‘two or more vowel sounds’ in them belong to this group, and take the
word “more” before them in comparative form and the word “ (the) most” in superlative form:
beautiful more beautiful the most beautiful
difficult more difficult the most difficult
splendid more splendid the most splendid

12. f) the words in this group do not take any suffix or any other
word before them, but change their spelling and pronunciation
entirely to form new words with the same meaning, of course:
good/well – better — the best
bad/evil/ill — worse — the worst
little — less/lesser* — the least
much — more — the most
many — more — the most
late — later/latter* — the latest/last*
old — older/elder* – the oldest/eldest*
far — farther — the farthest
fore — former — the foremost/first*
fore – further — the furthest
in — inner — the inmost/inner most
up — upper — the upmost/uppermost
out — outer/utter — the utmost/utter most

13. There are some words in the list that take more than one form in comparative and superlative
form.
Each of the two words gives a different meaning; therefore, it is best to know them well before
going any further in this topic.
Late – later, latter; latest, last; old – elder, older; eldest, oldest
Far – farther, further; farthest, furthest; near – nearest, next
Later, latter; latest, last
Later and latest refer to time
Latter and last refer to position
He is later than I expected (he has come late)
I have not heard the latest news. (recent news)
The latter chapters of the book are interesting(order of position)
The last chapter is bad. (order of position)
Elder, older; eldest, oldest
“Elder and eldest” are used only of persons – seniority than age.
(they are used with members of the same family.)
** “Elder” is not used with conjunction ‘than’.
“Older and oldest” are used of both persons and things – time (age)
John is my elder brother. Ahmed is his eldest son. (family relation — seniority)
Tom is older than his sister. (of people — family relation — age)
Sarah is the oldest girl in the class. (of people — no family relation – age)
example

14. Less/lesser
These two words are the comparative forms of the word ‘little’.
The difference is: “less” suggests ‘amount’, and “lesser” suggests degree showing
some ‘negative’ sense in a choice of two!
For example:
She has less money than he (has).
Which is the lesser of the two evils, drinking or smoking?
[Both ‘drinking alcohol’ and ‘smoking tobacco’ are evils, but we’d like to compare and decide which
one is more harmful – ‘more negative’ -- in this choice of two!]
Though there is a debate in the educated circles as to when and where to use which word,
“less or lesser”, the learners at this basic level need not worry much about this pair, but
keep an eye on these words and note down the examples whenever they come across these
words.
Foremost/first
These two words are synonyms, i.e. either word can be used. However, there is some difference
in their usage.
“Foremost” means ‘the best or the most important; in a top or leading position
in a group of people or things’; for example,
Gerald Durrell is one of the foremost authorities on animal protection plans.
Gerald Durrell is the first person to start a Trust (zoo) to protect the endangered species of
animals from around the world
Inmost/innermost ; upmost/uppermost; utmost/utter most
These pairs of words are synonyms. There are sentences where both these words are used for
the same context. Learners at this basic level need not worry about these pairs right now.