TASK 3

DEGREES OF COMPARISON

Degrees of Comparison maybe constructed in two ways :

a.      er / est

b.      more / most

A. er / est are used for :

a)   Monosyllable adjectives / adverbs.

example : long, large, low, high, strong, big, etc.

b)   Adjectives / adverbs of two syllable ending in :

·      le          → simple, gentle.

·      er          → clever, tender.

·      ow        → narrow, shallow.

·      y           → lazy, happy.

·      some    →  handsome.

c)    Adjectives / adverbs of two syllables if the stress falls on the second syllables.

·      Polite

·      Profound ( deep )

·      Sincere ( faithful )

B.  More and most are used for :

a.    Adjectives of two syllables if the stress falls on the first syllable.

example : descent, recent, modest, compact.

b.   Adjectives / adverbs of three or more syllables.

example : difficult, important, interesting, complicated.

c.    Adjectives with ly ending.

example : happily,sadly,etc.

IRREGULAR DEGREES OF COMPARISON

1.    Good

                  Better – best

Well     

2.    Bad

                 Worse – worst

Ill

3.    Far                         farther – farthest

                               Further – furtherst ( use in figurative sense )

4.    Near                       nearer – nearest ( distance )

                                  Nearer - Next ( order )

5.    Old                      older – oldest ( only age )

                               Elder – eldest ( age class + family range )

6.    Late                       latter – last ( used in order )

                                  Later – latest ( used for time )

7.    Many ( countable )    

                                                 More - most

Much ( uncountable )

8.    Little                    not much = less – least

                              Not big ( small ) = smaller - smallest

Example : 

1.      Bob and John are my friend, the former ( Bob ) comes from Bali and the latter ( John ) from Bogor.

2.      Let’s hope that the last war will be the latest.