English Toolkit

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1.5The wrong degree of comparison
TYPICAL ERROR Hannah and Samantha had a race to see who would get into the school relay team and Samantha was the fastest.
CORRECTION Hannah and Samantha had a race to see who would get into the school relay team and Samantha was the faster.

EXPLANATION If we wish to say how fast someone can run, we might say:

Ben is a fast runner, Lauren is a faster runner but Dan is the fastest runner.

The words fast, faster and fastest are called the three degrees of comparison of the adjective fast: The adjective itself (fast) is the first degree, faster is the second degree (comparing two things) and fastest is the third degree (comparing three or more things).

The three degrees of comparison are also called the positive degree, the comparative degree and the superlative degree.

In each of these sentences fix the adjective where the wrong degree of comparison has been used.
aBill Gates and Elon Musk are both wealthy but Elon Musk is the of the two.
bMy sister and I are both good at hockey but she is the player.
cThat has been one of the shots of the day.
dIf we compare Taipei 101 and the newer Burj Khalifa, the Burj Khalifa is the building.
eI am not sure who was the popular, Elvis or the Beatles.
fShrek 1 and Shrek 2 were both funny movies but Shrek 1 was .
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