Comparison Of Adjectives

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

Content

Introduction………………………………………………………………….………………....2
Comparison of Adjectives...........................................................................................................3
-er, -est comparison…………………………….………………………………..............3 more/most comparison….………………….....................................................................5 as ... as and not as/so ... as comparison.............................................................................5 more and more + adjective……………………................................................................6 the + comparative … the + comparative...........................................................................6
Position of comparatives and superlatives..................................................................................7
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………..8
Literature…………………………….........................................................................................9

Introduction

An adjective modifies a noun. The adjectives can express physical and other qualities (narrow, noisy, friendly) and the writer's opinion or attitude (excellent, beautiful). For example, adjective residential classifies the area, tells us what type of area it is.
Adjectives can also express other meanings such as origin (a Serbian writer), place (an inland waterway), frequency (a daily newspaper), degree (a complete failure), necessity (an essential safeguard) and degrees of certainty (the probable result).
An adjective always has the same form. There are no endings for number or gender.

an old man an old woman old people

But some adjectives take comparative and superlative endings.
(1) I said the rooftop giantess was not so much younger as taller, but Tom said that wasn't the point.1
(2) It was the most repulsive laugh I've ever heard in my life.2

Most adjectives have no special form to show that they are adjectives. But there are some endings used to form adjectives from other words.

careful planning a salty taste global warming artistic merit

An adjective can go before a noun or as complement after a linking verb such as be, seem, get. These positions are called 'attributive' and 'predicative'.
(3) Yes, it is an absolutely beautiful day.3 (attributive)
(4) For sixty-year-olds to organize such an event seemed unnatural and wrong.4 (predicative)

There are adjectives which ends in –ing and –ed . Adjectives in -ing express what something is like, the effect it has on us. For example, a show can be amusing, interesting or boring. Adjectives in -ed express how we feel about something. For example, the audience can feel amused, interested or bored.
(5) Not in your bunny girl outfit today, then,' and then gave a little laugh to disguise her comment as an amusing joke.5
(6) 'What's the matter?' he said, looking amused.6

And there is a special sort of adjectives, so called the + adjectives. The + adjectives are adjectives which adopted function of nouns. We use the + adjective to refer to some groups of people in society.
(7) The poor looked at me as if not sure what to do.7

Comparison of Adjectives

The semantic category of comparison applies to adjectives that are gradable. They are gradable when we can view them as on a scale; for example, for the adjective cold: a bit cold, somewhat cold, rather cold, very cold, extremely cold. We can also express comparisons for gradable adjectives: as cold (as), less cold (than), more cold (than), (the) most cold.
Comparison is a grammatical category that can be expressed by inflections in many gradable adjectives. The inflectional forms end (usually) in –er and –est.
Absolute comparative superlative:

tall taller tallest wealthy wealthier wealthiest

Comparatives are required in standard English for a comparison involving two only (Sam is taller than Richard) and superlatives for a comparison involving more than two (the tallest of the three girls).
The inflectional comparatives and superlatives are used with monosyllabic words, such as tall and young, and some disyllabic words, such as wealthy and clever. Monosyllabic words generally take the inflectional forms, disyllabic words take either the inflectional forms or the periphrastic forms with more and most (more wealthy, most wealthy), and longer words take only the periphrastic forms (more beautiful, most beautiful).
Beside these ways of comparison there are certain constructions which are used to describe degree of comparison:

as ... as (the affirmative) / not as/not so ... as (the negative) The special patterns: more and more + adjective and the (comparative)… the more , etc.

‘-er and -est‘ comparison

In general, short adjectives take -er/-est while long ones take more/most. One-syllable adjectives count as short and three-syllable adjectives count as long. Most two-syllable adjectives count as long but not all of them.

One-syllable adjectives (regular comparison)

One-syllable adjectives normally have comparatives and superlatives ending in –er and –est. old older oldest tall taller tallest cheap cheaper cheapest

Adjectives which end in –e form their comparative and superlative forms adding endings –r and –st.

late later latest nice nicer nicest

One-syllable adjectives, one vowel + one consonant, double the consonant.

fat fatter fattest big bigger biggest thin thinner thinnest

Irregular comparison

There are a few irregular forms of adjectives.

good better best bad worse worst ill worse worst far farther farthest further furthest old older oldest elder eldest

Both forms can be used of distances:
(1) 'She may well be farther/further afield by now.'8

But further can also be used, mainly with abstract nouns, to mean ’additional/extra’:
(2) 'Oh, I quite agree,' said Perpetua, emitting further gales of laughter.9

Elder, eldest imply seniority rather than age. They are chiefly used for comparisons within a family: my elder brother, her eldest boy/girl.
(3) He turned round, revealing that what had seemed from the back like a harmless navy sweater was actually a V-neck diamond-pattern in shades of yellow and blue — as favoured by elder people of the nation's sports reporters.10

But elder is not used with than, so older is necessary here:
(4) He is older than I am. 11 (elder would not be possible)

Two-syllable adjectives

Two-syllable adjectives which ends in an unstressed vowel, ’i’ or ’r’ can have –er and -est endings in forming comparatives an superlatives.

narrow narrower narrowest simple simpler simplest clever cleverer cleverest quiet quieter quietest

In this group are include adjectives which ends in –y. They form comparatives and superlatives adding –ier and –iest.

happy happier happiest easy easier easiest

With many two-syllable adjectives (common, polite) both –er/-est and more/most are possible.

‘more/most comparison’

Adjectives which ends in –ing, -ed, -ful, -less (longer adjectives) only the more/most comparison is possible. In general, the structure more/most is becoming more common.

Longer adjectives

Adjectives of three or more syllables have more/most comparison.

intelligent more intelligent most intelligent practical more practical most practical beautiful more beautiful most beautiful helpless more helpless most helpless

The following take more/most:
Ending in ful: careful, helpful, hopeful, peaceful, useful, etc
Ending in less: helpless, useless, etc
Ending in ing: boring, pleasing, tiring, willing, etc
Ending in ed: amused, annoyed, ashamed, confused, surprised, etc
Some others: afraid, cautious, certain, correct, eager, exact, famous, foolish, formal, frequent, mature, modern, normal, recent
The following take either er/est or more/most: able, common, cruel, feeble, gentle, handsome, narrow, pleasant, polite, simple, sincere, stupid, tired.
This type of comparison is known as comparison of the higher degree.

‘as ... as’ and ‘not as/ so ... as’ comparison

We use as ... as in the affirmative and not as/not so ... as in the negative, with the positive form of the adjective:
(1) At this point Alex Walker, who works in Sharon's company, strolled in with a stunning blonde who was about eight times as attractive as him.12 (affirmative)
(2) Then cooking to Michelin star standard becomes as easy as making shepherd's pie.13 (affirmative)
(3) I said the rooftop giantess was not so much younger as taller but Tom said that wasn't the point.14 (negative)

This comparison is also known as comparison of the same degree.

more and more + adjective

Gradual increase or decrease is expressed by two comparatives joined by and.
(1) Always overcompensate for bad presents, yelping with delight, which means I get more and more horrid gifts each year.15
(2) As you go round, you will go through the troubled time, less and less frequent, but still you must come back to it, so you shouldn't feel when it happens that you are back to square one.16

the + comparative … the + comparative

Parallel increase is expressed by the + comparative … the + comparative.
(1) The more the sun shines the more obvious it seems that others are making fuller, better use of it elsewhere.17

Position of comparatives and superlatives

A comparative or superlative adjective can come in the same position as other adjectives.
Attributive:
(1) I've got the most marvellous opportunity for you.18
(2) Even the most outrageous minxes lose their nerve, wrestling with the first twinges of existential angst.19

Predicative:
(3) Be more confident.20
(4) Be more assertive.21
(5) Make better use of time.22

We usually put the before a superlative adjective.
(6) It's just I've been stuck in the most tedious board meeting you can imagine for the entire evening and I so much wanted to see you.23

Conclusion

When we want to express the notion that a person, thing or situation has more or less of a quality, we can mark a gradable adjective for comparative or superlative degree.
This is done grammatically by inflection, adding -er and –est to the base form. Not every adjective lexeme possesses a comparative and a superlative form (or, at any rate, every adjective denoting a property that can be present to a greater or lesser degree). However, it is striking that many adjectives lack these forms: *Curiouser and curiouser! (this is from Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). To avoid this kind of mistake, instead of the suffixes -er and -est, we use periphrastic forms with more or most: More and more curious! (another way of comparison). Broadly speaking, the suffixes -er and -est appear on adjectives whose basic form has one syllable, or two provided that the second syllable ends in a vowel (e.g. tidy, yellow), while longer adjectives usually require the periphrasis.

Literature

Thomson A. J. and Martine A. V. (1986). A Practical English Grammar. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Swan M. (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Greenbaum S. (1996). The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Greenbaum S. and Quirk R. (1997) A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman.
Fielding H. (1997) Bridget Jones's Diary. London, MacMillan.