Using Adjectives and Adverbs to Compare
Your goal:
- Identify, understand and use using adjectives and adverbs to compare.
Using adjectives and adverbs to compare involves expressing degrees of qualities or actions, indicating differences in intensity, manner, or extent. Comparisons are made in three degrees: positive, comparative, and superlative.
Adjectives for Comparison:
- Positive Degree: The positive degree is the basic form of an adjective, describing a quality without comparison.
- Example: “She is tall.”
- Comparative Degree: This form is used to compare two things or people, indicating a higher or lower degree of a particular quality.
- Formation: For most adjectives, “more” is added before the adjective to form the comparative.
- Example: “She is more intelligent than her sister.”
- Formation: For most adjectives, “more” is added before the adjective to form the comparative.
- Superlative Degree: This form compares three or more things or people, indicating the highest degree of a particular quality.
- Formation: For most adjectives, “most” is added before the adjective to form the superlative.
- Example: “She is the most intelligent girl in the class.”
- Formation: For most adjectives, “most” is added before the adjective to form the superlative.
Adverbs for Comparison:
- Positive Degree: Adverbs in their basic form describe how an action is performed without comparison.
- Example: “He runs fast.”
- Comparative Degree: This form compares two actions, indicating a higher or lower degree of intensity or manner.
- Formation: For most adverbs, “more” is added before the adverb to form the comparative.
- Example: “He runs more quickly than she does.”
- Formation: For most adverbs, “more” is added before the adverb to form the comparative.
- Superlative Degree: This form compares three or more actions, indicating the highest degree of intensity or manner.
- Formation: For most adverbs, “most” is added before the adverb to form the superlative.
- Example: “He runs the most quickly out of all the athletes.”
- Formation: For most adverbs, “most” is added before the adverb to form the superlative.
Importance:
Using adjectives and adverbs for comparison allows for precise and nuanced descriptions of qualities and actions. Understanding how to form comparative and superlative degrees aids in expressing differences in intensity, size, manner, or quality while speaking or writing. Proper usage of comparative and superlative forms enhances communication by providing clarity and context in comparisons.