- •Foreword
- •Contents
- •Morphology the noun
- •The Category of Number
- •Invariable Nouns
- •The Genitive Case
- •Types of the Genitive Case
- •The article
- •Functions of the Article
- •The Use of Articles with Abstract Nouns
- •The Use of Articles with Material Nouns
- •The Use of Articles with Predicative Nouns and Nouns in Apposition
- •The Use of Articles in Some Set Expressions Nouns in set expressions used with the indefinite article
- •Nouns in set expressions used with the definite article
- •Nouns in set expressions used without an article
- •The Use of Articles with Some Semantic Groups of Nouns Articles with Names of Seasons and Parts of the Day
- •Articles with Names of Meals
- •Articles with the Nouns school, college, prison, jail, church, hospital
- •Articles with Names of Parts of the Body
- •Articles with Names of Specific Periods
- •The Use of Articles with Proper Names
- •Names of Persons
- •Geographical Names
- •Calendar Items
- •Miscellaneous Proper Names
- •The adjective
- •Morphological Composition
- •Semantic Characteristics
- •Descriptive adjective Limiting adjective
- •The Position of Adjectives
- •Degrees of Comparison
- •Patterns of Comparison
- •Intensifiers of Adjectives
- •Substantivized Adjectives
- •Adjectives and Adverbs
- •Oblique moods
- •Temporal Relations within the Oblique Moods
- •Subjunctive II
- •A. Simple Sentence
- •B. Complex Sentence
- •The Conditional Mood
- •The Suppositional Mood and Subjunctive I
- •Syntax the sentence
- •Sentence
- •The Simple Sentence. Structural Types
- •Communicative Types of Sentences
- •Interrogative sentences
- •Imperative sentences
- •The subject
- •Ways of expressing the Subject
- •Structural Types of the Subject
- •“It” and “there” as Subjects notional “it”
- •Formal subjects ‘’it” and “there”
- •The predicate
- •Agreement of the predicate with the subject Grammatical Agreement
- •Pronouns as Subjects
- •Agreement with Homogeneous Subjects
- •Notional Agreement
- •The object
- •Types of Objects
- •Structure and Ways of Expressing
- •Predicative Constructions that Function as Objects
- •The attribute
- •The apposition
- •The adverbial modifier
- •Structural Types of the Adverbial Modifier
- •Semantic Characteristics of the Adverbial Modifier
- •Absolute nominative constructions
- •Non-prepositional Absolute Constructions
- •The composite sentence
- •The Compound Sentence
- •The Complex Sentence
- •Nominal Clauses
- •Attributive Clauses
- •Adverbial Clauses
- •2. Adverbial clauses of place
- •Glossary of Linguistic Terms
- •List of Books
Degrees of Comparison
There are three degrees of comparison: positive (or absolute), comparative and superlative. There are three ways of forming the comparative and the superlative degrees: synthetic, analytical and suppletive.
Synthetic: by adding the suffix –er to the comparative degree and the suffix -est to the superlative degree.
Types of adjectives forming their degrees of comparison in a synthetic way:
1) monosyllabic: great ― greater ― greatest;
2) disyllabic: ending in –y: lovely ― lovelier ― loveliest;
-ow: narrow ― narrower ― narrowest;
-le: simple ― simpler ― simplest;
-er: clever ― cleverer ― cleverest;
-some: handsome ― handsomer ― handsomest;
Analytical: the comparative degree is formed by adding the word more, the superlative ― most: careful ― more careful ― most careful; personal ― more personal ― most personal; tired ― more tired ― most tired
Suppletive (Irregular):
good ― better ― best; bad ― worse ― worst; little ― less ― least;
many ― more ― most;
near ― nearer ― nearest (for distance) // next (for time);
far ― farther ― farthest (for distance) // further ― furthest (for time & distance);
old ― older ― oldest (for age) // elder ― eldest (for seniority);
late ― later ― latest (for time) // last (for order);
Comparison of compounds.
Compound adjectives can be inflected in two ways:
1) the first element is inflected if it is an adjective or an adverb (regular with well-): well-known — better-known — best-known;
2) an analytical way: kind-hearted — more kind-hearted — most kind-hearted.
The following adjectives do not form degrees of comparison:
1. Limiting qualitative adjectives which single out or determine the type of things or persons, such as: previous, middle, left, childless, medical, dead, etc.
2. Relative adjectives such as: wooden, woolen, leathern.
3. Adjectives with comparative and superlative meaning which are of Latin origin: former, inner, upper, junior, senior, prior, superior, minimal, etc.
Word combinations with less and least are not considered to be analytical forms of degrees of comparison. Remember the phrase ― the lesser of two evils, lesser is not a comparative degree but an adjective meaning ‘not as great as other(s)’.
Patterns of Comparison
Apart from morphological ways of denoting gradation of quality, there are some sentence patterns in which comparison is expressed.
MEANING |
PATTERN |
EXAMPLE |
P O S I T I V E D E G R E E | ||
equality |
as… as |
If a stupid woman marries a smart man she will become as sharp as he is. |
inequality |
not as… as |
Her car is not nearly as economical as mine |
|
not so… as |
She is not so tall as he is. He is not so clever. |
|
twice as… as |
A mile is just one and a half times as long as a kilometer. |
excess |
too + Adj [+ Inf] |
The grass is too short [to cut / for me to cut it]. |
sufficiency |
Adj + enough [+ Inf] |
He’s rich enough [to own a car / for me to marry him]. |
C O M P A R A T I V E D E G R E E | ||
parallel increase/ decrease |
the –er… the -er |
The more dangerous it is the more I like it. |
|
… -er as… |
He became more cautious as he grew older. |
|
|
The less I study the less I know. |
inferiority |
less + Adj… than |
John is less naughty than his sister |
superiority |
… -er than |
She is quieter than he is. |
|
twice –er than |
This task is twice easier than that one. The tower is 3 times taller than the house. |
|
-er than it is + Adj |
The room is longer than it is wide. |
|
the –er of the two Of the two… the -er |
Jack is the taller of the two. Of the two boys, John behaves the more politely. |
S U P E R L A T I V E D E G R E E | ||
inferiority |
the least… of/… |
She is the least tolerant person I’ve ever met. |
superiority |
the –est of/in/ever/ that… |
Edward is the youngest of all / in the family / ever elected president / that I’ve ever taught. |
|
Of the three… the -est |
Of the three boys, Bob behaves the most politely. |
|
the second –est of |
Ann is the second oldest of the children. |
Note the following patterns introduced by “more of a”, “as much of a”, “less of a”, etc.:
He is more of a sportsman than his father.
It was as much of a success as I expected (it would be).
You are less of a fool than I thought (you were).
He was enough of a man to tell the truth.
He is too much of a coward to go there.
Pay attention to the following set expressions:
a change for the better (for the worse) ― перемена к лучшему (худшему)
so much the better (the worse) ― тем лучше (хуже)
·· none the worse for ― ничуть не хуже от…
if the worst comes to the worst ― в худшем случае
· to go from bad to worse ― становиться все хуже и хуже
· as best as ― в полную меру старания
· at best, at worst ― в лучшем случае, в худшем случае
· none the less ― тем не менее
· in the near future ― в ближайшем будущем
· the younger generation ― молодое поколение
· In the last / past few days / weeks / months / years ― за последние дни / недели / месяцы / годы
· with every passing day / year / month ― с каждым днем / годом / месяцем