COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

To compare means to establish a difference or a similitude in between two or

more elements (beings or things) in what regards a certain common characteristic,
feature property, that is we compare that feature common to two (or more) elements.
We do not compare the elements but their feature that is common (their height, their
weight, their intelligence etc.). So we can compare the height of a man with that of a pig
/ door, etc.
e.g. The pig is shorter than the boy who is shorter than the door.

We can also compare the feature of an element in different times, regarding the same
element.
e.g. He is feeling better than yesterday but I think he was best last Friday.

The comparison is specific only to adjectives and adverbs.

The degrees of comparison are:

1 – the positive degree

2 – the comparative degree – the comparative of
superiority
– the comparative of
equality
– the comparative of
inferiority
3 – the superlative degree – the superlative relative
– the superlative absolute
The positive represents a comparison in itself, that is the notion itself came into being as a result of a
comparison. For example, the child of a family becomes the “old“ child of the family only when there
was born another child of that family (this one being the “young“ child), a. s. o.

N. B. – In English, some adjectives in the positive have the form of the comparative as a result of a
comparison
e. g. – higher (education, compared to high education)
– higher (society); upper (classes);
– lower (secondary school); lower (river), (upper) river
– outer (space)
In English, there are three ways to achieve comparison:
A – The irregular comparison
B – The synthetic comparison
C – The analytic comparison
While the irregular and the synthetic comparison refer to certain adjectives and adverbs
and include only the comparative of superiority and the superlative relative, the analytic
comparison include long adjectives and adverbs in the comparative of superiority and
the superlative relative on the one hand, and all the adjectives and adverbs in all the
other degrees and forms of comparison than the comparative of superiority and the
superlative relative.
N. B. – the short adjectives/adverbs are considered the one–syllable ones, all
the others being long adjectives/adverbs

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 A – THE IRREGULAR COMPARISON
The positive The comparative of
The superlative relative
degree superiority
bad / ill worse the worst
good / well better the best
far 1 farther / further the farthest / the furthest
few less / fewer the fewest
fore 2 former the foremost / first
hind (posterior, de hinder the hindmost / the hindermost
la spate, dindărăt)
late 3 later / latter the latest / last
little less / lesser the least / littlest
many / much more the most
near nearer the nearest / the next
old 4 older / elder the oldest / eldest
east / eastern more eastern the eastmost 5 / easternmost
north / northern more northern the northmost 5 / northernmost
south / southern more southern the southmost 5 / southernmost
west / western more western the westmost 5 / westernmost
beneath 6 (adv.) nether (adj.) the nethermost (adj.)
in 6 (adv.) inner (adj.) the inmost / innermost (adj.)
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out (adv.) outer / utter (adj.) the outer(utter)most / utmost /
up 6 (adv.) upper (adj.) the upmost / uppermost (adj.)
N. B.
1 – “further” and “the furthest” (but not ‘farther’ and ‘the farthest’) are usually used to
express sth more, sth extra, some other, sth ‘in addition’:
e. g. “No further explanation, please!”
“I’ll give you a further reason for my decision.”
“I want you to stay here for a further two months.’
Upon further consideration I decided to answer the letter.’
“further” and “the furthest” can be used to refer to distance as well
e. g. “I drove ten mile farther / further than necessary.”
2 – a. “former” means previous, smb / sth that is no longer what he / it was in certain
relationships:
e. g. “Do you see the man talking to your father? He’s my former teacher of
English.” (fostul meu profesor)
b. used with “the”, “former” means the first regarding two elements
e. g. There were two competitors; the former is my deskmate and the latter is your sister, isn’t she?
3 – “latter” means the last of two, the second regarding two elements (see the example
above)
4 – the irregular forms “elder” and “the eldest” are used to compare the age of the
members of the same family (sons, daughters, sisters and brothers). They are used
attributive only, therefore they are never followed by ‘than’.
e. g. Dan is my elder brother. Rodica is the eldest.
but
My brother is older than I am and Rodica is the oldest in our family.
“my elder (eldest) cousin” = in Romanian ‘mai în vârstă (cel mai în vârstă)’ dintre doi (sau mai
mulţi) fraţi care sunt şi veri de-ai mei (el poate fi chiar mai tânăr decât mine)
5 – these forms are rarely used
6 – the comparative and the superlative of these adverbs are no longer adverbs, but
adjectives:
g. “Let the children in!” (adv.), “the inner side” (adj.); “Out with it!” (adv.), “in the outer space” (adj.);
“Up you go!” (adv.), “the upper classes” (adj.)
– beside the forms in the table above, there are irregular forms for the superlative
degree built up with “–most” as an ending for some adjectives and adverbs such as:

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aftermost (cel mai din urmă, din urmă de tot), hithermost (cel mai apropiat de locul acesta),
lowermost (cel mai de jos, inferior), midmost (cel mai apropiat de/din mijloc/central), topmost (cel
mai din vârf/din cap, cel mai important), undermost (cel mai de jos, cel mai dedesubt)

B – THE SYNTHETIC COMPARISON

The synthetic comparison includes:
1 – one–syllable adjectives / adverbs
2 – two–syllable adjectives /adverbs ending in –er, –le, –ly (not the adverbs in –ly),
–ow, –some, –ure, –y,
3 – some two–syllable adjectives with the stress on the first syllable
4 – some two–syllable adjectives with the stress on the second syllable
5 – three–syllable adjectives with a negative prefix
For all these adjectives and adverbs the comparative of superiority is built up by means
of the ending –er, and the superlative relative with the ending –est.
The positive The comparative of superiority The superlative relative
degree
the positive–est
positive–er
clear (1) clearer the clearest
fat fatter the fattest
fine finer the finest
gay gayer the gayest
rare rarer the rarest
busy (2) busier the busiest
easy easier the easiest
pretty prettier the prettiest
friendly (2) friendlier the friendliest
kindly kindlier the kindliest
lonely lonelier the loneliest
bitter (2) bitterer the bitterest
clever cleverer the cleverest
tender tenderer the tenderest
gentle (2) gentler the gentlest
humble humbler the humblest
noble nobler the noblest
hollow (2) hollower the hollowest
narrow narrower the narrowest
yellow yellower the yellowest
gruesome* (2) gruesomer the gruesomest
handsome handsomer the handsomest
lonesome lonesomer the lonesomest
mature (2) maturer the maturest
obscure obscurer the obscurest
able [‘eibl] (3) abler the ablest
common [‘k m n] commoner the commonest
cruel [‘kru l] crueller the cruellest
absurd (4) absurder the absurdest
discreet discreeter the discreetest
minute** minuter the minutest
uneasy (5) uneasier the uneasiest
unlucky unluckier the unluckiest
unpleasant unpleasanter the unpleasantest
impolite impoliter the impolitest
incomplete incompleter the incompletest

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N. B. – * gruesome (in Rom.) – înfiorător, groaznic, de groază, înspăimântător
** minute as an adjective is read [mai’nju:t] (in Rom.) – mic, minuscul, foarte mic; amănunţit, detaliat, minuţios;
mărunt, fără importanţă. As a noun, minute is read [‘minit].
• Exceptions: adjectives belonging to groups 1 to 4 but which have the analytic comparison: worn, worth
(1); agile, candid, docile, eager, fertile, fragile, hostile, nervous, proper, prudent, sudden, tiresome (2,
3); afraid, alive, alone, aloof (distant, în depărtare, la distanţă), aware, antique, bizarre, burlesque, content,
intact (4)
• Some two–syllable adjectives / adverbs have both synthetic and analytic comparison

The positive The comparative of superiority The superlative relative

degree synthetic analytic synthetic analytic
abrupt abrupter more abrupt the abruptest the most abrupt
correct correcter more correct the correctest the most correct
distinct distincter more distinct the distinctest the most distinct
REMEMBER:
• You may hear or read forms such as more able, more glad, more proud, more
sad, more sorry, more hot, more cloudy (the last two can be heard even in the
weather reports on BBC); even more bad, more good, more well-known, most well-
advised, most well-informed, most well-dressed; even the adjectives ending in –ing,
or in the participial –ed can be found in synthetic forms,
e.g. “One of the most good people that he knew.”
“They have certainly done their damnedest.”
“London was on the way to being the leadingest place.”
Even Guinness Book of Records uses the superlative “mostest”.
Such forms are not examples to be used as long as they are not
standard and do not belong to the English literary language,
proving the lack of education of the speaker.
• You should avoid the double comparative (more nicer, less
nearer) what is a mistake in English.
C – THE ANALYTIC COMPARISON
1. – The comparative of superiority and the superlative relative of the long adjectives
and adverbs
The positive The comparative of superiority The superlative relative
degree more + positive the most + positive
active more active the most active
beautiful more beautiful the most beautiful
interesting more interesting the most interesting

2. – The comparative of equality, the comparative of inferiority and the superlative

absolute of all the adjectives and adverbs (A, B and C. 1.)

2. a. – The comparative of equality:

– as bad as
AS + positive + AS – as big as
2. b. – The comparison of inferiority – as interesting as

LESS + positive + THAN – less bad than

– less big than
– less interesting than
• There is another construction that seems to be the comparative of inferiority, but
it is considered a negative comparison

NOT SO + positive + AS

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 what is usually met as “He is not as kind as his sister.”, which is
e. g. “He is not so kind as his sister.”
the negative form of the comparative of equality and not a comparative of inferiority

2. c. – The superlative absolute

a. – The superlative absolute is built up by means of words which suggest an extremity,
the limit of sth. used with the positive degree of that adjective / adverb. Among the
words used for the superlative absolute we mention:
admirably entirely fully perfectly uncommonly
alarmingly exceedingly frightfully remarkabl unusually
y
awfully exceptionally greatly shockingly unutterably
colossally excessively highly singularly utterly
completely extraordinarily horribly strikingly vastly
considerably extravagantly hugely terribly wonderfully
dreadfully extremely infinitely thoroughly
e. g.
awfully pleased dreadfully sorry terribly nice
frightfully kind perfectly awful really disgraceful
b. – The use of some prefixes or words such as:
extra–dry hypersensitive superannuated
extra –strong overbusy superfine
hyperconscientious oversized ultra–short
c. – The use of a noun or of a superlative form followed by the preposition of in a
genitival construction such as:
He proclaimed courage as the virtue of all virtues.
In her heart of hearts she knew he was right.
He was the lowest of the low.

d. – The repetition of an adjective / adverb

She’s goody–goody . (mironosiţă)
Naughty–naughty! (“Nu eşti cuminte!” glumeţ, la adresa unei fete care se plimbă cu un băiat)
He’s clever–clever. (este foarte abil; “Mare şmecher!”)

e. – The positive preceded by adverbs such as just, quite, positively, really, simply etc.
It was just splendid.
She was quite disappointed.
It was positively disgraceful.
Your question is really interesting.
She was simply awful.

The intensive comparative

The comparative form is repeated with the conjunction and to show a certain
progression of that feature (in Romanian “din ce în ce mai … ”, “tot mai … “).
He speaks English better and better.
The English lessons are getting more and more difficult .

The comparative form with “THE”

1. – The comparative form with the (adv., here, in Romanian “cu cât … cu atât…”) in
constructions of the kind:
The less time you give to it, the worse results you will get.
The shorter the days are, the colder they become.
The well–known paradox: The more you learn, the more you know;

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 the more you know, the more you forget;
the more you forget, the less you know;
the less you know, the less you forget:
the less you forget, the more you know!

2. – The comparative between two elements gets the meaning of a superlative and is
used with the.
Tom is the older of our two colleagues.
Do you see the two men standing near the door? The taller is my brother.

The comparison of the comparative and of the superlative

Both the comparative and the superlative can be compared, being a stylistic device to
underline the idea expressed by them. The comparative is usually preceded by (very)
much, far, lots, a lot, or followed by the adverb by far.
e. g.
The weather is much worse today.
Mother is far gentler than your father.
He is feeling very much worse.
You are lots / a lot less active than usual.
Tom is gentler by far than Will.

The comparison of the superlative is achieved either by using very or by far in front of
the superlative or the adjectives conceivable, imaginable, possible etc. after it, or by
repeating the adverb too.
e.g.
She is the very nicest kind of girl.
They are my very best friends.
It is by far the most interesting play.
I have read the worst novel imaginable.
I hope you’ll have the finest weather possible.
It’s too, too charming!