1

Salvador Francisco Massingue

Faculty of education Sciences and Psychology

“Comparatives and Superlatives degrees, limit versus gradable adjectives”

Save University

Chongoene

2020
 2

Salvador Francisco Massingue

Faculty of education Sciences and Psychology

“Comparatives and Superlatives degrees, limit versus gradable adjectives”

Assessement work for the

English, EAD regime, 2nd year,
1st semester, 2020.

Lecturer:Afonso Jamal Roberto Nhamuave

Save University

Chongoene

2020
 3

1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………..……….…..4

2. Adjectives …………………………………………………………………...…….…5.6

3. Irregular comparatives and superlatives ………………………………….……….…6, 7

4. Regular comparatives and superlatives …………………………………….….……..7, 8

5. Similarities ……………………………………………………………………..…..…8, 9

6. Gradable adjectives ………………………………………...………...……...………9, 10

7. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………..…11

8. References …………………………………………………………………….…….….12
 4

1. Introduction

There is a group or class of words that helps us express how people, places or around us
really are. The name given to that class of words and adjective. Thus the adjectives show the
characteristics, qualities or states of things and to use them correctly, it is important to know
how they are classified, with and when to use a certain adjective, according to the degree
taking into account the limit of the adjectives. The present work talks about the comparative
and superlative degree of the adjectives, as well as the limit verses degree of the adjectives.
 5

2. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous,
doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. Are words that give more information about a noun or
pronoun and can go in different position in a sentence? They can also describe the quantity
of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.

2.1. Uses of Adjectives

Adjectives tell the reader how much—or how many—of something you’re talking about,
which thing you want passed to you, or which kind of something you want.Eg:Please
use three white flowers in the arrangement.

Three and white are modifying flowers.

2.2. Comparatives and Superlatives

Forming regular comparatives and superlatives

1. We use comparatives to compare two things or two people. (e.g. She is taller than her
husband.)
2. Superlatives are used, however, to show the difference between more than two things
or more than two people. (e.g Paris is the biggest city in France)
3. To form comparatives and superlatives you need to know the number of
the syllables in the adjective. Syllables are like "sound beats".

For instance:

 "find" contains one syllable,

 but "finding" contains two — find and ing.

The rules to form comparatives and superlatives:

1. One syllable adjective ending in a silent 'e' — nice

 Superlative — add 'st' — nicest

 6

2. One syllable adjective ending in one vowel and one consonant — big

 Comparative — add 'r' — nicer

 Comparative — the consonant is doubled and 'er' is added —bigger

 Superlative — the consonant is doubled and 'est' is added—biggest

3. One syllable adjective ending in more than one consonant or more than a vowel (or long
vowels) — high, cheap, soft.

 Comparative — 'er' is added — higher, cheaper, softer.

 Superlative — 'est is added — highest, cheapest, and softest.

4. A two syllable adjective ending in 'y' — happy

 Comparative — 'y' becomes 'i' and 'er' is added — happier

 Superlative — 'y' becomes 'i' and 'est' is added — happiest

5. Tow syllable or more adjectives without 'y' at the end — exciting

 Comparative — more + the adjective + than — more exciting than

 Superlative — more + the adjective + than — the most exciting

Examples:

 The Nile River is longer and more famous than the Thames.
 Egypt is much hotter than Sweden.
 Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
 This is one of the most exciting films I have ever seen.

3. Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Adjectives Comparatives Superlatives

bad worse worst

far(distance) farther farthest

 7

far(extent) further furthest

good better best

little less least

many more most

much more most

4. Regular comparatives and superlatives

Adjectives Comparatives Superlatives

tall taller (than) (the) tallest

narrow narrower (than) (the) narrowest

large larger (than) (the) largest

great greater (than) (the) greatest

light lighter (than) (the) lightest

small smaller (than) (the) smallest

long longer (than) (the) longest

old older (than) (the) oldest

easy easier (than) (the) easiest

sunny sunnier (than) (the) sunniest

rainy rainier (than) (the) rainiest

Poor poorer (than) (the) poorest

rich richer (than) (the) richest

low lower (than) (the) lowest

high higher (than) (the) highest

 8

funny funnier (than) (the) funniest

busy busier (than) (the) busiest

weak weaker (than) (the) weakest

soft softer (than) (the)softest

big bigger(than) (the)biggest

nice nicer(than) (the)nicest

short shorter(than) (the)shortest

expensive more expensive (than) (the) most expensive

appealing less appealing(than) (the) least appealing

How to use comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives Superlatives

Comparatives are used to compare Superlatives are used to compare more

two things or two people: than two things or two people.
eg:Alan is taller than John. Superlative sentences usually use 'the':
eg:Alan is the most intelligent.

5. Similarities

To express similarities, use the following structure:

... as + adjective + as ...

Examples:

 Mike is as intelligent as Nancy.

 Larry is as popular as Oprah.
 He'll be good in business: he's as hard as nails.
 He was as ugly as sin, that's why we didn’t give the role to him.
 9

 Today is as hot as hell

 I intend to spend my vacation as good as it gets: in a divine Brazilian beach.

6. Gradable adjectives

Most adjectives are gradable. This means we can have different levels of that quality. For
example, you can be a bit cold, very cold or extremely cold. We can make them weaker or
stronger with modifiers:

She was quite angry when she found out.

The film we saw last night was really funny!
It can be extremely cold in Russia in the winter.

Here is a list of some common gradable adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with
them.

Modifiers a little / a bit → pretty / quite → really / very → extremely

Adjective angry , big , boring , cheap, cold , expensive , frightening,

s funny , hot , interesting , old , pretty , small , tasty , tired , etc.

6.1. Non-gradable: absolute adjectives

Some adjectives are non-gradable. For example, something can't be a bit finished or very
finished. You can't be a bit dead or very dead. These adjectives describe absolute
qualities. To make them stronger we have to use modifiers
like absolutely, totally or completely:

Thank you, I love it! It's absolutely perfect!

Their farm was totally destroyed by a tornado.
My work is completely finished. Now I can relax.
 10

Here is a list of some common absolute adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with
them.

Modifiers absolutely / totally / completely

acceptable , dead , destroyed , finished , free , impossible , necessary , perfect ,

Adjectives
ruined , unacceptable , etc.

6.2. Non-gradable: extreme adjectives

Adjectives like amazing, awful and boiling are also non-gradable. They already contain the
idea of 'very' in their definitions. If we want to make extreme adjectives stronger, we have to
use absolutely or really:

Did you see the final match? It was absolutely amazing!

After 32 hours of traveling, they were absolutely exhausted.
My trip home was really awful. First, traffic was really bad, then the car broke down and we
had to walk home in the rain.

Here is a list of some common extreme adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with
them.

Modifiers absolutely / really

Adjectives amazing,ancient , awful , boiling , delicious , enormous,excellent , exhausted ,

fascinating , freezing , gorgeous , terrible , terrifying , tiny , etc.
 11

7. Conclusion

An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun by providing descriptive or specific detail. Unlike

adverbs, adjectives do not modify verbs, other adjectives, or adverbs. Adjectives usually
precede the noun or pronoun they modify. Adjectives do not have to agree in number or
gender with the nouns they describe. It provides further information about a noun, indicating
things like size, shape, colour, and more.
 12

References

https://learnenglish.britshcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/adjectives-
gradable-and-non-gradable.at 10:35o’clock, Wednesday, 22th April of 2020.

https://solinguainglesa.com.br/conteúdo /adjectivo3, php .at 11:00 o’clock, Wednesday, 22th

April of 2020

https://smakids .com.br/trabalho/adjectives. At 14:03 o’clock, Thursday, 23th April of 2020.