Comparative degree of the adjective in English

The rules for changing English adjectives are not very difficult to understand, but they have many features that cause some difficulties. The fact is that individual words do not obey the general rules, since they are an exception. Let's discuss all possible constructs of the comparative degree of the adjective in English.

What is the relative degree of the adjective?

Any adjective has three degrees: positive, comparative and excellent. The first degree is the word itself in its original form, and the other two are its altered versions. They are formed by using two principles: analytical and synthetic. In the first case, additional words are used, in the second case, all the changes occur due to the addition of special suffixes. There are also words that can be compared using both of these methods.

Synthetic Form

A simple comparative degree of adjectives is used mainly for monosyllabic words and usually does not cause difficulties in learning. Changes occur through two types of suffixes: "er" - for comparative degree and "est" - for excellent. Example:

• Fast (thin) - faster (thinner) - fastest (thinnest).

Using comparative speed, it is necessary to pay attention to some moments of spelling. If the monosyllabic word ends in a consonant sound preceded by a short vowel, then in the process of comparison, on the letter, the last consonant is doubled:

• Thin - thinner (thinner) - thinnest (thinnest).

The simple comparative degree of adjectives has another nuance concerning words ending in the mute letter "e". During the addition of special suffixes, this letter disappears, since both these suffixes begin with the letter "e", and there is no sense to double it:

• Huge (huge) - huger (more huge) - hugest (most huge).

Words ending with "y"

Although the synthetic comparative degree of the name of the adjective is used to a greater extent for monosyllabic words, it can also work with some kinds of disyllabic words, in particular, ending with the vowel sound "y".

If in the word of this vowel precedes a consonant sound, then in the process of comparison the letter "y" changes to "i", but the rule of its pronunciation remains the same:

• Busy busier (busier) busiest (busiest).

In those cases when there is a vowel before the "y", the letter "y" does not change.

Analytical form

A compound comparative degree of adjectives is used for most disyllabic and polysyllabic words, since long words are already difficult to pronounce and it is not convenient to add any suffixes to them, besides the English language is very capacious and always tends to compactness and contraction. In such cases, four additional words are used for comparison: more, most, less and least. They are placed before the adjective:

• Aromatic - more aromatic (more aromatic) - most aromatic (most aromatic);
• Expensive - less expensive (least expensive) - least expensive (most inexpensive).

Suggestions for an example:

• It was the most difficult day of this week.
• This trip is less expensive - this trip is less expensive.

Statement of the article in front of adjectives

Comparative degree has one more important rule: any adjective in superlative degree, whether it is created by means of analytical construction, or synthetic, always has in front a definite article "the". This rule works because any defining word in most cases denotes a noun that goes right after it. If there is no noun, then the use of the definite article is still an inalienable action, since the adjective in any case implies any person or thing:

• My grandfather is the oldest in my village.
• I was a very expensive restaurant, the most expensive one I saw.

As is evident from the second part of the second example, an excellent comparative degree of the adjective is required to have the definite article even without the presence of a noun following. In the example, the noun is not written, but it is implied: the most expensive (restaurant) that I saw.

The word "most" in other meanings

The word "most" is used not only in cases where the comparative degree of adjectives is used in English, but also for other tasks. In particular, it is used in the sense of "extremely", "very", "very". In such cases, when using the singular number, the indefinite article "a" is used, and when using the plural, the article is not put at all:

• They are most polite people - they are quite / very polite people.

Also the word "most" is often used in combination with the preposition "of", creating a combination that translates into Russian as "most of ..." or "most of ...". Such a phrase is used before a certain group of people, objects and other things. In this design, the articles before the "most" are not applied, but are placed just before the nouns or are not put at all:

• Most people in Russia don`t know English - most people in Russia do not know English.
• Most students know this rule - most students know this rule.

Some nuances

It is worth noting that the English language is developing dynamically, and the rules of spelling and compilation of certain verbal constructions also suffer some changes. Certain metamorphoses have not bypassed the rule of using adjectives. The fact is that when comparing certain words, it is possible to change them using a synthetic or analytical form, regardless of how many syllables this or that word has. That is, some dictionary units do not obey the general rules. Let's try to understand more specifically.

There are monosyllabic adjectives that can be compared in two ways:

• True - truer or more true - truest or most true (the most truthful);
• Hot - hotter or more hot - hottest or most hot.

There are also those monosyllabic words, which in most cases are used precisely in analytical forms. Here are examples of such words:

• Right (true, correct) - righter (used rarely) / more right (right) - most right (rightmost / right);
• Real (real) - more real (real) - realest / most real (most real).

In English there are disyllabic words that are equally compared by the two above-mentioned methods, for example, it's clever, sincere and stupid. The words remote and polite, although they occur in two forms of comparison, are still more often changed by the means of the analytical method.

If you are not sure which of the two comparative turns is more correct to apply to a particular word, then use the analytical one: in this case you risk making only a stylistic error, not a grammatical error .

Exception words

The comparative degree of the adjective works in a slightly different way for a group of fairly common words that use their unique ways of changing. There are few such words, so memorizing their forms will not take much time, but they need to be known. Conditionally such words can be called "wrong adjectives". These include words such as "bad" - bad (worse - worst), "little" (little-less), "many" - much \ many (more-most), "good" good ). It is interesting that such definitions are "wrong" in a number of other languages, where their comparative degree of adjective is also not subject to general rules.

Do not be confused, working with the words little and small. In both cases the comparative degree is translated as "less", but in the variant with little it is less, and in the variant with small - smaller:

• I have less powers than you - I have less authority than you.
• I`m smaller than my brother - I'm less than my brother.

Also deserves special attention is the comparative degree of the adjective, which is translated into Russian as "more":

• You have more money than he - you have more money than he.
• My brother is bigger than you - my brother is bigger than you.

As you can see, these words are quite common, and they all came across in one way or another.

Afterword

In this article, we have figured out how the comparative degree of adjectives works. English is rich in various nuances and exceptions, which can not be accommodated in one article, but all the most basic rules have been considered above. It is worth recalling once again: if you are not sure of the correctness of using one or another comparative turnover for adjectives, then use the analytical version. In this case, you will always remain understood, except that the stylistic side of the phrase, in which the adjective is used in the form of a comparative degree.