EXPLANATION We often compare things using adjectives, as in these examples:
- a funny joke → a funnier joke → the funniest joke
- wet weather → wetter weather → the wettest weather
- a friendly person → a friendlier person → the friendliest person
The three columns show three levels or degrees of comparison: the first degree is the adjective itself (e.g. funny); the second degree is when we compare two things (funnier); and the third degree is when we compare three or more things (funniest). We call these levels the first, second and third degrees of comparison.
Notice that for the above adjectives, the second and third degrees have been formed simply by adding 'er' and 'est' respectively to the adjective: funny, funnier, funniest; hot, hotter, hottest; friendly, friendlier, friendliest. This happens if the first degree is only one or two syllables.
For words of more than two syllables, we make the comparisons by using more and most: e.g. more dangerous, most dangerous; more beautiful, most beautiful; more gigantic, most gigantic. (We do not say beautifuller or giganticest!)
Note that for words of two syllables, sometimes we have both options: for example, for 'friendly', we can use friendlier and friendliest or we can use more friendly and most friendly. However, for a two-syllable adjective like confused, we have only one set of options: confused, more confused, most confused.
So there are two different ways of comparing: we can add er, est to the ends of the adjectives or we can use more and most. Notice that the two distinct ways of making comparisons should not be mixed in the same expression. We can say that Jack is the friendliest person ... or that Jack is the most friendly person ... but not the most friendliest.
The three degrees of comparison are also sometimes called the positive, comparative and superlative degrees of comparison of adjectives:
- Jack is a friendly person. (First or positive degree of friendly.)
- Jack is friendlier than Jill. (Second or comparative degree of friendly.)
- Jack is the friendliest person I know. (Third or superlative degree of friendly.)