DEGREES OF COMPARISON The Degrees of Comparison in

DEGREES OF COMPARISON The Degrees of Comparison in English grammar are made with the Adjective and Adverb words to show 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/expression. 1

Kinds of Degrees of comparison Kinds of degrees of comparison POSITIVE DEGREE Degree of equality COMAPRATIVE DEGREE Progressive degree SUPERLATIVE DEGREE Parallel degree Degree of inequality 2

Positive Degree of equality Degree of inequality 3

POSITIVE DEGREE § One noun – person, thing or place – and one quality… above average tall – adjective § John is a man. 4

Positive degree (continued) § Eifel tower is a tall man-made structure. One noun with one quality – ‘tall’ adjective in positive form 5

Degree of equality The adjective or adverb is in positive form showing that two persons or things are the same – two nouns having the same quality. n The common conjunction used is “as…as”. 6

Degree of equality: example 1 § John is as strong as James. ‘strong’ – adjective in positive form showing equality 7

Degree of inequality § The adjective or adverb is in positive form showing that two persons or things are not the same – two nouns not having the same quality. 8

Degree of inequality u Peter is not as (so) fast as Paul. 9

COMPARATIVE DEGREE Two persons, things or places are being compared with one adjective or adverb to show that one has more quality or quantity of the adjective or adverb than the other. The adjective or adverb takes ‘r’ or ‘er’ to its positive form, and is said to be in comparative form. The conjunction ‘than’ is used to connect the two clauses. 10

Comparative Degree: example l A horse can run faster than a dog. 11

Degree of Comparison: Comparative degree Progressive Degree Parallel Degree 12

Progressive Degree Two adjectives or adverbs are being compared to show that one continues to increase (or decrease) when the other increases (or decreases). The adjective or adverb is in its comparative form with the definite article ‘the’ before it. 13

Progressive Degree: example n The steeper the hill, the more difficult it is to push the rock up! 14

Parallel Degree l The quality or quantity of the adjective or adverb continues to increase (or decrease) as the time passes. l The adjective or adverb in its comparative form is repeated using the conjunction ‘and’. 15

Parallel Degree: example days are getting hotter and hotter. ► It is getting hotter and hotter day by day. ► The 16

SUPERLATIVE DEGREE ► Comparing one noun – person, thing or place – with several others of its kind to show that this particular noun has the highest degree of the quality or quantity of the adjective or adverb being used to compare. ► The adjective or adverb takes the ‘superlative form’, ending with ‘st’ or ‘est’, with the definite article ‘the’ before it. ► The preposition ‘of’ is used when the comparison is among items, and ‘in’ is used to specify the place, position or area. 17

Superlative Degree: example 1 u The elephant is the largest of all land animals. u The giraffe is the tallest of all animals. 18

Superlative Degree: example 2 n Susan is the most intelligent girl in the class. Susan 19

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 1 • Gerald is fast the faster footballer in our team. 20

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 2 n Tom is a stronger the strongest strong boy. 21

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 3 n This man is sad happy angry , but that man is . 22

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 4 § Kate is more activer active than Sue. 23

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 5 • The white flower is as the most beautiful more beautiful as the red flower. 24

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 6 the weights, them. The heavy the difficult The heavier the more difficult it is to lift 25

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 7 n The sea is getting . rough and rougher the rougher and the rougher 26

Degrees of Comparison: worksheet 8 § Mt. Everest is higher than high the highest mountain in the world. 27