Comparison (grammar)

Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages, whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected or modified to indicate the relative degree of the property defined by the adjective or adverb.

The grammatical category associated with comparison of adjectives and adverbs is degree of comparison. The usual degrees of comparison are the positive, which simply denotes a property (as with the English words big and fully); the comparative, which indicates greater degree (as bigger and more fully); and the superlative, which indicates greatest degree (as biggest and most fully).^[1] Some languages have forms indicating a very large degree of a particular quality (called elative in Semitic linguistics). Other languages (e.g. English) can express lesser degree, e.g. beautiful, less beautiful, least beautiful.

Formation of comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives and superlatives may be formed morphologically, by inflection, as with the English and German -er and -(e)st forms, or syntactically, as with the English more... and most... and the French plus... and le plus... forms. Common adjectives and adverbs often produce irregular forms, such as better and best (from good) and less and least (from little/few) in English, and meilleur (from bon) and mieux (from the adverb bien) in French.

Comparative and superlative constructions

Comparatives are often used with a conjunction or other grammatical means to indicate with what the comparison is being made, as with than in English, als in German, etc. In Russian and Greek (Ancient, Koine and Modern) this can be done by placing the compared noun in the genitive case. With superlatives, the class of things being considered for comparison may be indicated, as in "the best swimmer out of all the girls".

Languages also possess other structures for comparing adjectives and adverbs; English examples include "as... as" and "less/least...".

А few languages apply comparison to nouns and even verbs. One such language is Bulgarian, where expressions like "по̀ човек (po chovek), най човек (nay chovek), по-малко човек (po malko chovek)" (literally more person, most person, less person but normally better kind of a person, best kind of person, not that good kind of a person) and "по̀ обичам (po obicham), най-малко обичам (nay malko obicham)" (I like more, I like the least) are quite usual.^[2]

Usage when considering only two things

In many languages, including English, traditional grammar requires the comparative form to be used when exactly two things are being considered, even in constructions where the superlative would be used when considering a larger number. For instance, "May the better man win" would be considered correct if there are only two individuals competing. However, this rule is not always observed in informal usage; the form "May the best man win" will often be used in that situation, as it would if there were three or more competitors involved.^[3]

Rhetorical use of unbalanced comparatives

In some contexts, such as advertising or political speeches, absolute and relative comparatives are intentionally employed in a way that invites a comparison, and yet the basis of comparison is not established. This is a common rhetorical device used to create an implication of significance where one may not actually be present. Although such usage is common, it is sometimes considered ungrammatical.^[3]

For example:

• Always!
• Why pay more?
• We work harder.
• We sell for less!
• More doctors recommend it.

English

English has two parallel systems of comparison, a morphological one formed using the suffixes -er (the "comparative") and -est (the "superlative"), with some irregular forms; and a syntactic one, formed with the adverbs "more" and "most".

As a general rule, words with one syllable require the suffix, words with three or more syllables require "more" or "most", and words with two syllables may use one system or the other; which words use which system is a matter of idiom. Some adjectives, e.g. 'polite', can use either form, with different frequencies according to context.^[4]

Morphological comparison

Morphological comparison uses the suffixes -er (the "comparative") and -est (the "superlative"). These inflections are of Germanic origin and are cognate with the Latin suffixes -ior and -issimus and Ancient Greek -īōn and -istos. They are typically added to shorter words, words of Anglo-Saxon origin, and borrowed words which have been fully assimilated into the English vocabulary. Usually the words which take these inflections have fewer than three syllables.

This system also contains a number of irregular forms, some of which, like "good", "better", and "best", contain suppletive forms. These irregular forms include:

Syntactic comparison

The second system of comparison in English appends the grammatical particles "more" and "most", themselves the irregular comparatives of "many" and "much", to the adjective or adverb being modified. This series can be compared to a system containing the diminutives "less" and "least".

This system is most commonly used with words of French or Latin derivation; with adjectives and adverbs formed with suffixes other than -ly (e.g., "beautiful"); and with longer, technical, or infrequently used words.

Absolute adjectives

Some adjectives, the absolute or ungradable adjectives do not appear to logically allow degrees. Some qualities are either present or absent, such as being Cretaceous or igneous, so it appears illogical to call anything "very Cretaceous", or to characterize something as "more igneous" than something else.

Many prescriptive grammars and style guides include adjectives for inherently superlative qualities to be ungradable. Thus, they reject expressions such as more perfect, most unique, and most parallel as illogical pleonasms: after all, if something is unique, it is one of a kind, so nothing can be "very unique", or "more unique" than something else.

Other style guides argue that terms like perfect and parallel never apply exactly to things in real life, so they are commonly used to mean nearly perfect, nearly parallel, and so on; in this sense, more perfect (i.e., more nearly perfect, closer to perfect) and more parallel (i.e., more nearly parallel, closer to parallel) are meaningful.

Comparison in Balto-Slavic languages

In most Balto-Slavic (such as Czech, Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian etc.) the comparative and superlative forms are also declinable adjectives.

In Russian, comparative and superlative forms are usually formed with a suffix - добрый (kind), добрее (kinder), добрейший (kindest). In Bulgarian, comparative and superlative forms are formed with the clitics по- (more) and най- (most). For example голям (big), по-голям (bigger), най-голям (biggest).

See also

• Augmentative
• Diminutive
• Intensifier

References