If you're planning on learning a foreign language, then knowing the terms comparative and superlative is a useful starting point for learning their rules for forming them. That aside, here are five noteworthy issues related to degree.
(Issue 1) Double comparatives and double superlatives are serious grammar mistakes.
Don't apply two rules for forming a comparative or a superlative.
- You get more sillier as the night goes on.
- She can run most fastest .
These grammar errors are called double comparatives or double superlatives. They are more common in speech than in writing. When spoken, they can be dismissed as a slip of the tongue. However, if you use one in writing, you're toast. Credibility shot.
(Issue 2) Use the comparative degree not the superlative degree when comparing two things.
A common mistake is using the superlative degree when comparing just two things. (That's when you should use the comparative degree.)
- Of the two, she is the most suitable candidate. (More suitable candidate would be correct.)
- I call white the most powerful non-colour; it's clean, optimistic and powerful. (Artist Jason Wu) (When I found this quotation I wanted the non-colours to be just black and white, meaning more powerful would have been correct. It turns out the non-colours include all the greys as well. So, Wu's quotation is correct. Gutted.)
Often, the number of things being compared isn't known.
- She is the most suitable candidate. (Reading this, we'd assume there were more than two candidates. If there were just two, it should say "more suitable.")
(Issue 3) "Dead" means dead. You can't be more dead. or can you?
(Issue 4) You can use "quicker" or "more quickly" as an adverb.
"Quicker" and "more quickly" are both acceptable comparative forms of the adverb quickly. It's a common misconception that "quicker" has only recently passed into English as an adverb through common usage and ignorance of the difference between adverbs and adjectives. Throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, "quicker" was far more common than "more quickly". Only since the 1970s has "more quickly" overtaken "quicker". The other quirky comparative is "stupider", which is an acceptable alternative to "more stupid".
- Think how stupid the average person is – half of us are stupider than that. (Comedian George Carlin)
(Issue 5) "Taller than me" and "Taller than I" are both acceptable.
- John is taller than I am or
- John is taller than I. (This is just a more succinct version.)
- John likes Peter more than me.
- John likes Peter more than I like Peter. or
- John prefers Peter to me.
- John likes Peter more than I do. or
- John likes Peter more than he likes me.
Key Points
- Don't apply two rules for forming a comparative (e.g., more prettier) or a superlative (e.g., most best). That's a serious mistake.
- Use the comparative degree (not the superlative) when comparing just two things.
This page was written by Craig Shrives.
