Monday, 8 October 2012

Adjective Degrees


Adjectives are words that describe or modify a person or the meaning of thing in the sentence. 
We use degrees of comparison to compare one person or one thing with another. Degrees of comparison can be classified as positive, comparative and superlative.



1. Adjective Degrees
    When we talk about only one person or one thing, we use the positive degree of comparison.
    • John is tall.
    We use the comparative degree of comparison to show the difference between two people, things or groups.
    • John is taller than Mary.
    We use the superlative degree of comparison to compare three or more people, things or groups, to show which of them has "the most" of some quality. 
    • John is the tallest.
    We normally use "than" with comparative adjectives and "the" with superlative adjectives.

    2. Comparative and superlative forms
    Rule1: Add -er or -est to one syllabic words.

    POSITIVE
    COMPARATIVE
    SUPERLATIVE
    Small
    Smaller
    Smallest
    Short
    Shorter
    Shortest

    Rule 2: When an adjective ends in -y, drop the -y and change it to -i and add -er or -est.

    POSITIVE
    COMPARATIVE
    SUPERLATIVE
    Busy
    Busier
    Busiest
    Crazy
    Crazier
    Craziest

    Rule 3: When an adjective ends in -e, remove the -e and add -er or -est in its place.

    POSITIVE
    COMPARATIVE
    SUPERLATIVE
    Cute
    Cuter
    Cutest
    Nice
    Nicer
    Nicest

    Rule 4: For adjectives ending in -ful, -less, and -ing use more or most before the word. 
    For two syllabic adjective also use more and most.

    POSITIVE
    COMPARATIVE
    SUPERLATIVE
    Beautiful
    More beautiful
    Most Beautiful
    Pleasant
    More pleasant
    Most pleasant

    Rule 5: There are some adjective which are known as irregular adjectives as they don’t follow any rules.

    POSITIVE
    COMPARATIVE
    SUPERLATIVE
    Good
    Better
    Best
    Little
    Less
    Least
    Bad
    Worse
    Worst
    Much
    More
    Most
    Old
    Older
    Oldest