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| Grammatical features |
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Syntax relationships |
Thedegrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs[1] are the various forms taken byadjectives andadverbs when used to compare two or more entities (comparative degree), three or more entities (superlative degree), or when not comparing entities (positive degree) in terms of a certain property or way of doing something.
The usual degrees of comparison are thepositive, which denotes a certain property or a certain way of doing something without comparing (as with theEnglish wordsbig andfully); thecomparative degree, which indicatesgreater degree (e.g.bigger andmore fully [comparative of superiority] oras big andas fully [comparative of equality] orless big andless fully [comparative of inferiority]); and thesuperlative, which indicatesgreatest degree (e.g.biggest andmost fully [superlative of superiority] orleast big andleast fully [superlative of inferiority]).[2] Some languages have forms indicating a very large degree of a particular quality (calledelative in Semitic linguistics).
Comparatives and superlatives may be formed inmorphology by inflection, as with the English andGerman-er and-(e)st forms and Latin's-ior (superior,excelsior), orsyntactically, as with the Englishmore... andmost... and theFrenchplus... andle plus... forms(see§ Formation of comparatives and superlatives, below).
The degrees of comparison found in English are:
Some languages have forms indicating a very large degree of a particular quality (calledelative in Semitic linguistics).
Comparatives and superlatives may be formed inmorphology by inflection, as with the English andGerman-er and-(e)st forms and Latin's-ior (superior,excelsior), orsyntactically, as with the Englishmore... andmost... and theFrenchplus... andle plus... forms. Common adjectives and adverbs often produce irregular forms, such asbetter andbest (fromgood) andless andleast (fromlittle/few) in English, andmeilleur (frombon) andmieux (from the adverbbien) in French.
Most if not all languages have some means of forming the comparative, although the means can vary significantly from one language to the next.
Comparatives are often used with aconjunction or other grammatical means to indicate to what the comparison is being made, as withthan in English,als in German, etc. InRussian and Greek (Ancient,Koine andModern), this can be done by placing the compared noun in thegenitive case. With superlatives, the population being considered may be explicitly indicated, as in "the best swimmer out of all the girls".
Languages also possess other structures for comparing adjectives and adverbs, such as "as... as" in English.
А few languages apply comparison to nouns and even verbs. One such language isBulgarian, where expressions like "по̀ човек (po chovek), най човек (nay chovek), по-малко човек (po malko chovek)" (literallymore person,most person,less person but normallybetter kind of a person,best kind of person,not that good kind of a person) and "по̀ обичам (po obicham), най-малко обичам (nay malko obicham)" (I like more,I like the least) are quite usual.[note 2]
In many languages, including English, traditional grammar requires the comparative form to be used when at least two things are being considered, even in constructions where the superlative would be used when considering a larger number. For instance, "May the better man win" would be considered correct if there are two individuals competing. However, this rule is not always observed in informal usage; the form "May the best man win" will often be used in that situation, as is required if there were three or more competitors involved.[3] However, in some cases when two subjects with equal qualities are compared, usage of comparative degree is not necessary. For example, "Ram is as good as Shyam"—positive degree; Since Ram and Shyam are equally good, neither is superior which negates the usage of the comparative. In some contexts this can be written in comparative degree — "Ram is not better than Shyam."
In some contexts such as advertising or political speeches, absolute and relative comparatives are intentionally employed in ways that invite comparison, yet the basis of comparison is not explicit. This is a commonrhetorical device used to create an implication of significance where one may not actually be present. Although common, such usage is sometimesconsidered ungrammatical.[3]
For example:
English has two grammatical constructions for expressing comparison: a morphological one formed using the suffixes-er (the "comparative") and-est (the "superlative"), with some irregular forms, and a syntactic one using the adverbs "more", "most", "less" and "least".
As a general rule, words of onesyllable require the suffix (except for a few words such asfun,real,right,wrong), while words of three or more syllables require "more" or "most". This leaves words of two syllables—these are idiomatic, some requiring the morphological construction, some requiring the syntactic and some able to use either (e.g.,polite can usepoliter ormore polite), with different frequencies according to context.[4]
Thesuffixes-er (the "comparative") and-est (the "superlative") are ofGermanic origin and arecognate with theLatin suffixes-ior and-issimus andAncient Greek-ῑ́ων :-īōn and-ῐστος :-istos. They are typically added to shorter words, words ofAnglo-Saxon origin, and borrowed words fully assimilated into English vocabulary. Usually the words taking theseinflections have fewer than three syllables.
This system also contains a number of irregular forms, some of which, like "good", "better", and "best", containsuppletive forms. These irregular forms include:
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| good | better | best |
| well | ||
| bad | worse | worst |
| ill, badly | ||
| far | farther | farthest |
| further | furthest | |
| little | less(er) | least |
| many | more | most |
| much |
In syntactic construction, inserting the words "more" or "most"[note 3] before an adjective or adverb modifies the resulting phrase to express a relative (specifically, greater) degree of that property. Similarly, inserting thediminutives "less" or "least" before an adjective or adverb expresses a lesser degree.
This system is most commonly used with words not of Anglo-Saxon origin – most often in English those of French, Latin, or Greek derivation. This includes adverbs formed with the suffix-ly (e.g.,more beautifully) and such words used as adjectives if they would take-ly as adverbs (e.g.most beautiful). It also tends to include longer, technical, or infrequent words. Some more examples:
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| beautiful | more beautiful | most beautiful |
| often | more often | most often |
| observant | less observant | least observant |
| coherently | less coherently | least coherently |
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The meanings of some adjectives (theungradable or absolute type) are not exhibitable in degrees, making comparative constructions of them inappropriate. Some qualities are either present or absent, applicable or not applicable, such as a rock beingcretaceous vs.igneous, so it appears illogical to call anything "very cretaceous", or to try to characterize something as "more igneous" than something else.
Some grammarians object to the use of the superlative or comparative with words such asfull,complete,unique, orempty, which by definition already denote a totality, an absence, or an absolute.[5] However, such words are routinely and frequently qualified in contemporary speech and writing. This type of usage conveys more of afigurative than a literal meaning, because in a strictly literal sense, something cannot be more or less unique or empty to a greater or lesser degree.
Manyprescriptive grammars andstyle guides include adjectives for inherently superlative qualities to be non-gradable. Thus, they reject expressions such asmore perfect,most unique, andmost parallel as illogicalpleonasms: after all, if something is unique, it is one of a kind, so nothing can be "very unique", or "more unique" than something else.
Other style guides argue[citation needed] that terms likeperfect andparallel never applyexactly to things in real life, so they are commonly used to meannearly perfect,nearly parallel, and so on; in this sense,more perfect (i.e., more nearly perfect, closer to perfect) andmore parallel (i.e., more nearly parallel, closer to parallel) are meaningful.
If an adjective has two comparative markers, it is known as a double comparative (e.g.more louder,worser). The use of double comparatives is generally associated withAppalachian English andAfrican American Vernacular English, though they were common inEarly Modern English and were used by Shakespeare.[6][7]
In recent times, such constructions have been used humorously, or to convey a sense of erudition, in addition to their original purpose of emphasis.
The adjectivenear may be found in the superlative with omission of the prepositionto after it, as inFind the restaurant nearest your house (instead ofFind the restaurant nearest to your house). Joan Maling (1983) shows thatnear is best analysed as an adjective with which the use ofto is optional, rather than a preposition.
In mostBalto-Slavic languages (such as Czech, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian), the comparative and superlative forms are also declinable adjectives.
InBulgarian, comparative and superlative forms are formed with the cliticsпо- (more) andнай- (most):
InCzech,Polish,Slovak,Ukrainian,Serbo-Croatian andSlovene, the comparative is formed from the base form of an adjective with a suffix and superlative is formed with a circumfix (equivalent to adding a prefix to the comparative).
InRussian, comparative and superlative forms are formed with a suffix or with the wordsболее (more) andсамый (most):
In contrast to English, the relative and the superlative are joined into the same degree (the superlative), which can be of two kinds: comparative (e.g. "very beautiful") and absolute (e.g. "the most beautiful").
French: The superlative is created from the comparative by inserting the definitive article (la, le, or les), or the possessive article (mon,ton,son, etc.), before "plus" or "moins" and the adjective determining the noun. For instance:Elle est la plus belle femme → (she is the most beautiful woman);Cette ville est la moins chère de France → (this town is the least expensive in France);C'est sa plus belle robe → (It is her most beautiful dress). It can also be created with the suffix "-issime" but only with certain words, for example: "C'est un homme richissime" → (That is the most rich man). Its use is rare and often ironic.
Spanish: Thecomparative superlative, like in French, has the definite article (such as "las" or "el"), or the possessive article ("tus," "nuestra," "su," etc.), followed by the comparative ("más" or "menos"), so that "el meñique esel dedomás pequeño" or "el meñique eselmás pequeño de los dedos" is "the pinky isthe smallest finger." Irregular comparatives are "mejor" for "bueno" and "peor" for "malo," which can be used as comparative superlatives also by adding the definite article or possessive article, so that "nuestro peor error fue casarnos" is "our worst mistake was to get married."
Theabsolute superlative is normally formed by modifying the adjective by adding-ísimo,-ísima,-ísimos or-ísimas, depending on the gender or number. Thus, "¡Los chihuahuas son perros pequeñísimos!" is "Chihuahuas are such tiny dogs!" Some irregular superlatives are "máximo" for "grande," "pésimo" for "malo," "ínfimo" for "bajo," "óptimo" for "bueno," "acérrimo" for "acre," "paupérrimo" for "pobre," "celebérrimo" for "célebre."
There is a difference between comparative superlative and absolute superlative:Ella es la más bella → (she is the most beautiful);Ella es bellísima → (she is extremely beautiful).
Portuguese andItalian distinguish comparative superlative(superlativo relativo) and absolute superlative(superlativo absoluto/assoluto).For the comparative superlative they use the words "mais" and "più" between the article and the adjective, like "most" in English.For the absolute superlative they either use "muito"/"molto" and the adjective or modify the adjective by taking away the final vowel and addingissimo (singular masculine),issima (singular feminine),íssimos/issimi (plural masculine), oríssimas/issime (plural feminine). For example:
There are some irregular forms for some words ending in "-re" and "-le" (deriving from Latin words ending in "-er" and "-ilis") that have a superlative form similar to the Latin one. In the first case words lose the ending "-re" and they gain the endingserrimo (singular masculine),errima (singular feminine),érrimos/errimi (plural masculine), orérrimas/errime (plural feminine); in the second case words lose the "-l"/"-le" ending and gainílimo/illimo (singular masculine),ílima/illima (singular feminine),ílimos/illimi (plural masculine), orílimas/illime (plural feminine), the irregular form for words ending in "-l"/"-le" is somehow rare and, in Italian but not in Portuguese, it exists only in the archaic or literary language. For example:
Romanian, similar to Portuguese and Italian, distinguishes comparative and absolute superlatives. The comparative uses the word "mai" before the adjective, which operates like "more" or "-er" in English. For example:luminos → bright,mai luminos → brighter. To weaken the adjective, the word "puțin" (little) is added between "mai" and the adjective, for examplemai puțin luminos → less bright. For absolute superlatives, the gender-dependent determinant "cel" precedes "mai," inflected as "cel" for masculine and neuter singular, "cei" for masculine plural, "cea" for feminine singular, and "cele" for feminine and neuter plural. For example:cea mai luminoasă stea → the brightest star;cele mai frumoase fete → the most beautiful girls;cel mai mic morcov → the smallest carrot.
Hindi-Urdu (Hindustani)ː When comparing two quantities makes use of theinstrumental case-markerse (से سے) and the noun or pronoun takes theoblique case. Words likeaur (और اور) "more, even more",zyādā (ज़्यादा زیادہ) "more" andkam (कम کم) "less" are added for relative comparisons. When equivalence is to be shown, the personal pronouns take the oblique case and add thegenitive case-marker kā (का کا) while the nouns just take in theoblique case form and optionally add the genitive case-marker. The wordzyādā (ज़्यादा زیادہ) "more" is optional, whilekam (कम کم) "less" is required, so that in the absence of either "more" will be inferred.[10]
INST:instrumental case:Instrumental case
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Superlatives are made through comparisons withsab ("all") with theinstrumental postpositionse as the suffix. Comparisons using "least" are rare; it is more common to use an antonym.[11]
| Hindi-Urdu |
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In Sanskritised and Persianisedregisters of Hindustani, comparative and superlative adjectival forms using suffixes derived from those languages can be found.[11]
| English | Sanskrit | Persian | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparative | -er | -tar | |
| adhiktar (more) | bêhtar (better) | ||
| Superlative | -est | -tam | -tarīn |
| adhiktam (most) | bêhtarīn (best) | ||
Scottish Gaelic: When comparing one entity to another in the present or the future tense, the adjective is changed by adding ane to the end andi before the final consonant(s) if the final vowel is broad. Then, the adjective is preceded by "nas" to say "more," andas to say "most." (The wordna is used to meanthan.) Adjectives that begin withf are lenited. andas use different syntax constructions. For example:
Tha mi nas àirde na mo pheathraichean. → I am taller than my sisters.
Is mi as àirde. → I am the tallest.
As in English, some forms are irregular, i.e. nas fheàrr (better), nas miosa (worse), etc.
In other tenses,nas is replaced byna bu andas bya bu, both of whichlenite the adjective if possible. If the adjective begins with a vowel or anf followed by a vowel, the wordbu is reduced tob'. For example:
Welsh is similar to English in many respects. The ending-af is added onto regular adjectives in a similar manner to the English-est, and with (most) long wordsmwyaf precedes it, as in the Englishmost. Also, many of the most common adjectives are irregular. Unlike English, however, when comparing just two things, the superlativemust be used, e.g. of two people -John ydy'r talaf (John is the tallest).
In Welsh, the equative is denoted by inflection in more formal registers, with-ed being affixed to the adjective, usually preceded, but not obligatorily, bycyn (meaning 'as'). For example:Mae Siôn cyn daled â fi (Siôn is as tall as me). Irregular adjectives have specific equative forms, such asda (‘good’):cystal = 'as good as'.
InAkkadiancuneiform, on a 12-paragraphclay tablet contemporary with theAmarna letters (which span roughly 20 years circa 1350 BC), two striking examples of the superlative extend the common grammatical use. The first is the numeral "10," as well as "7 and 7." The second is a verb-spacement adjustment.
The term"7 and 7" means 'over and over'. The phrase itself is a superlative, but an addition to some of the Amarna letters adds "more" at the end of the phrase (EA 283,Oh to see the King-(pharaoh)): "... I fall at the feet of the king, my lord. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, 7 and 7 timesmore, ....".[12]: 323–324 The word 'more' is Akkadianmila, and by Moran is 'more' or 'overflowing'. The meaning in its letter context is "...over and over again, overflowing," (as 'gushingly', or 'obsequiously', as an underling of the king).
The numeral 10 is used forten times greater in EA 19,Love and Gold, one of KingTushratta's eleven letters to the Pharaoh-(Amenhotep IV-Akhenaton). The following quote using 10, also closes out the small paragraph by the second example of the superlative, where the verb that ends the last sentence is spread across the letter in s-p-a-c-i-n-g, to accentuate the last sentence, and the verb itself (i.e. the relational kingly topic of the paragraph):
The actual last paragraph line contains three words: 'may it be', 'flourish', and 'us'. The verb flourish (from napāhu?,to light up, to rise), uses: -e-le-né-ep-pi-, and the spaces. The other two words on the line, are made from two characters, and then one:"...may it be, flourish-our (relations)."
In Estonian, the superlative form can usually be formed in two ways. One is a periphrastic construction withkõige followed by the comparative form. This form exists for all adjectives. For example: the comparative form ofsinine 'blue' issinisem and therefore the periphrastic superlative form iskõige sinisem. There is also a synthetic ("short") superlative form, which is formed by adding-m to the end of the plural partitive case. Forsinine the plural partitive form issiniseid and sosiniseim is the short superlative. The short superlative does not exist for all adjectives and, in contrast to thekõige-form, has a lot of exceptions.
In Finnish, the comparative of the adjective is formed by adding the suffix-mpi to the inflecting stem of the adjective. Hencesuuri (big) yieldssuurempi. The superlative being itself an adjective, it must be inflected to agree with the noun it modifies, noting that the inflecting stem of the-mpi ending is-mma/-mmä (depending on the vowel harmony of the adjective). Hencepieni talo (small house) yieldspienemmän talon edessä (in front of the smaller house). There is a small set of exceptions, the most noteworthy being the comparative of the adjectivehyvä, good, that becomesparempi.
The comparative of the adverb is marked by the-mmin ending:
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| nopea, nopeasti, nopeammin | 'quick, quickly, more quickly/faster' |
| kaunis, kauniisti, kauniimmin | 'beautiful, beautifully, more beautifully' |
| hidas, hitaasti, hitaammin | 'slow, slowly, more slowly' |
| helppo, helposti, helpommin | 'easy, easily, more easily' |
The adverbial formhyvin of the adjectivehyvä, good, becomesparemmin, meaningin a better way.
The complement of the comparative can be indicated in two ways:
Russell Ultan (1972) surveyed 20 languages and observed that the comparative and superlative are inflected forms of (near-)identical bases with respective to the positive and equative.Jonathan D. Bobaljik (2012) contends that Ultan’s generalization is a strong contender for a linguistic universal. Bobaljik formulates the Comparative-Superlative Generalization: With respect to the positive, if any adjective’s comparative degree were suppletive, so would its superlative; vice versa, if any adjective’s superlative degree were suppletive, then so would its comparative.
Bobaljik phrases theContainment Hypothesis thus: "The representation of the superlative properly contains that of the comparative (in all languages that have a morphological superlative)". Indeed:
Additionally, Bobaljik asserts that Universal Grammar lacks the superlative morpheme.
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