Talk:Superlative

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Unless someone has sources which support superlatives being ungrammatical in groups of cardinality less than three, they oughtn't make that claim on this page, I left it as a claim made by some as part of their grammars, but it would be best if they would link to a specific English grammar which made this claim. It certainly isn't Universally accepted. -- 216.143.191.131

The article starts by defining superlative as "...an adjective or adverb [that] indicates that an entity transcends at least two other entities," But then goes on to say later that one other entity is sufficient, contradicting itself. I assume this was the result of differing opinions editing at different stages, but the article really should be unified. I'll get round to this later if no-one has any objections. — Asbestos | Talk 12:44, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Superlatives in other languages

Hi Aav, perhaps you can clarify this for me? You are saying "the comparative superlative is created by inserting one of the adjectives "plus" or "moins" between the definite article and the adjective determining the noun". What exactly is a "comparative superlative" in French? Surely any superlative in French is formed that way - la plus belle femme. The determiner plus between the definite article and the adjective always indicates the superlative? It is either a "comparative" or a "superlative"? It can't be both? Dieter Simon 00:00, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

In French, the superlative is formed by adding in the definite article, not plus. So you can have a comparative and a superlative both with plus in it, but the superlative will have the definite article. Example:

Comparative: Cette femme est plus belle. This woman is more beautiful.

Superlative: Cette femme est la plus belle. This woman is the most beautiful.

Hope this answers your question. :)

(Moonbeast 20:35, 17 April 2006 (UTC))

Yes, indeed, that does make sense.

Thank you for enlightening this old codger. Dieter Simon 00:02, 18 April 2006 (UTC)