Humble Silly Pregnant Fresh Intelligent Cocky
Humble Silly Pregnant Fresh Intelligent Cocky
Positive Adjectives
The first degree of modification that all English adjectives can
express is the positive degree. Positive adjectives are
identical to the dictionary form of the adjective. For example,
the following italicized adjectives are positive:
Comparative Adjectives
The second degree of modification that prototypical English
adjectives can express is the comparative degree.
Comparative adjectives compare only two nouns. The
comparative form of adjectives is formed by adding the
suffix -er to the adjective by adding the adverb more to the
adjective phrase. Adjectives with one syllable or with two
syllables in which the last syllable is -y, -le, or -er take the -
er suffix. All other adjectives take the adverb more. Some
adjectives have irregular comparative forms as
in good and better or bad and worse. For example, the
following italicized adjectives are comparative:
The humbler man silenced the sillier girl.
The more intelligent student outsmarted
the cockier villain.
Espen is bigger than Princess.
Only prototypical adjectives in English express comparative
degrees of modification. For example, the
adjectives pregnant and purple traditionally do not have
comparative forms because one is either pregnant or not or
something is either purple or not. Note, however, that such
adjectives can take comparative endings as in This woman is
more pregnant than that woman meaning figuratively that one
woman is further along in pregnancy than another.
Superlative Adjectives
The third degree of modification that prototypical English
adjectives can express is the superlative degree. Superlative
adjectives compare three or more nouns. The superlative form
of adjectives is formed by adding the suffix -est to the
adjective by adding the adverb most to the adjective phrase.
Adjectives with one syllable or with two syllables in which the
last syllable is -y, -le, or –er take the -est suffix. All other
adjectives take the adverb most. Some adjectives have
irregular superlative forms as
in good and best or bad and worst. For example, the
following italicized adjectives are superlative:
The humblest man silenced the silliest girl.
The smartest student won the largest trophy.
The pudding cup is the most delicious dessert here.