What is Degrees of Comparison? Degrees of Comparison Types and Example Sentences

What is Degrees of Comparison? Degrees of Comparison Types and Example Sentences

Degrees of Comparison

In English grammar, what are called degrees of comparison are related to adverbs and adjectives. Each adverb and adjective can be written with one of the three degrees listed below.

The positive degree

This does not offer any comparison and only tells us about the existence of a quality. Adjectives such as slow, beautiful, happy, and adverbs such as slowly, beautifully, happily can be counted as examples of this title.

The comparative degree

This compares two things to show that it has a higher or lesser degree of quality. Adjectives such as slower, more beautiful, happier, and adverbs such as more slowly, more beautifully, more happily can be counted as examples of this title.

The superlative degree

This compares more than two things to show what has the lowest or highest quality rating. Adjectives such as slowest, most beautiful, happiest, and adverbs such as most slowly, most beautifully, and most happily can be counted as examples of this title.

Simple Examples of Comparative Degrees

Let’s give the adjective “happy” as an example for all three degrees of comparison.

• Jeff was happy last night.

In the example given above, the adjective “happy” is an example of “the positive degree”.

• Jeff was happier than Mike last night.

In the example given above, the adjective “happy” is an example of “the comparative degree”.

• Jeff was the happiest of them all last night.

In the example given above, the adjective “happy” is an example of “the superlative degree”.

Real-Life Examples of Comparative Degrees

This time, instead of giving examples on a single adjective, let’s give examples of some of the dialogues that we can or have heard in real life.

• You’re a really beautiful girl, but I don’t feel ready for a relationship.
• He was the ugliest person I’ve ever seen, but he still had a cute character.
• If I ever become rich, I would like to be the richest person on the planet we live in.
• Emilie is taller than her classmate Abigail.
• The deepest trench in the world is the Mariana Trench. I think I want to go there but it sounds creepy.
• Watching TV can be a fun activity, but playing computer games is more fun than watching TV.
• Airplanes are much faster than ships and cars, but space shuttles are also faster than airplanes.
• Your car may be faster than mine, but my car looks better than yours.
• Maybe I didn’t get the highest grade in the class, but the highest grade among my friends belonged to me.
• You are heavier than me but I am taller than you.
• Mary’s hair is more well-groomed and even longer than before, but her sister Karen does not care for her hair.
• My grandfather loves my mother very much, but my brother and I are more precious to my grandfather than my mother.
• The United States is the richest state in the world and has the highest gross domestic product.
• I love all animals, but I love cats more than any other animal, cats are my favorite.

The number of examples above can of course be multiplied. We have given many examples here to make the subject more understandable.