The adjective is the very part of speech without which our language cannot exist. And the point here is not only the need to impart imagery. Without adjectives, even banal specification of objects is impossible. If we do not know the exact characteristics of an object, we cannot imagine it and, therefore, we can hardly predict what actions we will be able to perform in relation to this object.
We all understand that objects cannot be the same. One of them is larger, the second is smaller, the third is heavier, and the fourth is generally darker in color. So how can we describe something that differs from other objects in its characteristics? How to highlight this difference? This is precisely why the comparative degree and superlative degree of comparison of adjectives are needed. Let's try to figure out what it is.
And for what?
As mentioned above, comparative is needed in order to identify an object by comparing it with another object. Usually, one of the objects is initially named so that a person can imagine what he will have to compare with, and only then the characteristics of the new object relative to the original are listed, so that, by comparing, we can get an idea of what is still unknown to us.
Comparatives and superlatives are indeed necessary in education to help the learner better understand the nature of the subject, which of course helps in successful learning. At the same time, our everyday speech would become much more sparse if it did not contain these same comparisons - then in a number of situations we simply would not be able to express our thoughts! Forming comparatives, superlatives and adverbs (which will be discussed later) is not at all difficult. The main thing is to be able to apply them correctly.
What do we form from?
First of all, you need to understand that the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives are a phenomenon characteristic only of qualitative parts of speech. for example, which indicate that an object belongs to someone, cannot form something similar: the ball, for example, cannot be more Tanin than Sasha, and the tail cannot be more fox than wolf. The same can be said about a table that is more wooden than a chair? Nonsense!
So be sure to remember that only the comparative degree and the superlative degree are available.
Comparative - synthetics
Let's start with the comparative degree of the adjective. First, you need to understand that it can be simple and compound, that is, it is formed either with the help of special suffixes, or by adding certain words that emphasize the difference between objects. A simple degree, also called synthetic, as mentioned above, is formed with the help of formative suffixes that are added to. The choice of suffix depends on what sound this very base ends with. For most consonant sounds (except for a few exceptions, which will be discussed below), the suffixes -ee- and -ee- are suitable: light - lighter, hot - hot and so on.
The suffix -e- is used in the following cases:
- When the adjective ends in g, x, d, t (expensive - more expensive, dry - drier, rich - richer, young - younger). By the way, here, as you have already noticed, there is an alternation of the consonant sound at the root of the word, which is also an important point.
- When an adjective ends with the suffix -k- (high - above, low - below).
- In exceptional cases, which, unfortunately, do not lend themselves to any logic (cheap is cheaper).
And the last group of suffixes -she- and -zhe- are also used in isolated cases, more as exceptions (thin - thinner, deep - deeper).
In addition, it is impossible not to mention that there is a certain number of words in which, even when forming the comparative and superlative forms, the root itself changes (good - BETTER, bad - WORSE).
Everyday speech allows the addition of the prefix -po- to an adjective that is already in the comparative degree in order to slightly soften this difference (light - LIGHTER - LIGHTER, dear - more expensive - MORE expensive). In a sentence, this form of the adjective is most often part of a compound nominal predicate. Moreover, it does not change by gender, number and case.
Comparative - analytics
Let's move on to the compound-analytic form of the comparative degree of the adjective. Here everything is much simpler: the words “more” and “less” are used before the adjective (risky - more risky, educated - less educated). In a sentence, the analytical form fully corresponds to the functions of an ordinary adjective.
Excellent - synthetic
The superlative degree of comparison demonstrates, as the name implies, the absolute superiority of a characteristic, the highest degree of its manifestation. It also has synthetic (simple) and analytical (compound) forms.
“Synthetics” is formed using a series of suffixes -eysh-, -aysh-, -sh- (simple - simplest, quiet - quietest). In addition, the literary style allows the use of the prefix -nay-, which is added to the adjective in the comparative degree (small - the smallest, simple - the simplest). Here there is already a change in gender, number and cases, in contrast to the comparative degree.
Excellent - analytics
With the compound form everything is as simple as with the comparative degree. Here the words “most”, “most/least” are usually added, which are typical for the most part in the book style (MOST successful, LEAST rational, MOST simple), and “all/all” in combination with an adjective in the comparative degree, which are used in colloquial speech (smarter than EVERYONE, more interesting than EVERYONE).
Degrees of comparison of adverbs
Now let's move on to another part of speech - an adverb. Its necessity and usefulness are undeniable. Basically, they have a lot in common. Comparative and superlative degrees of adverbs are usually much smaller and much lighter compared to adjectives.
Firstly, it should be noted that degrees of comparison are formed only by adverbs ending in -о,-е, which are based on qualitative adjectives (simple, quiet, deep).
Secondly, we still have the same two forms: comparative and superlative, with the division in the first case into simple and composite. To form a simple comparative degree, the suffixes -ee-, -ey-, -e- and -she- are used, added to the adverb without this characteristic -o, e: simply - simpler, funny - funnier. Whereas the compound form is created using the already known words “more/less” and the original form of the adverb - LESS loudly, MORE freely. With the superlative degree of the adverb it is even much simpler: there is no synthetic form here, and the analytical form is formed by adding a short “all” to the comparative degree of the adverb (quietly - quieter - quieter than ALL, boldly - bolder - bolder than ALL).
Let's summarize
We studied comparative and superlative degrees. A table that will help summarize and repeat all the above material is presented below.
Adjective | ||||
Synthetic | Analytical | Synthetic | Analytical |
|
Comparative | Suffixes: her, her, e, k, she, zhe Prefix: by (bolder, more expensive) | more/less Adjective (more daring, less expensive) | Suffixes: her, her, e, she (quieter, faster) | more/less (louder) |
Excellent | Suffixes: eish, aish, sh Prefix: nai Comparative synthetic (brave, best) | most, all/all, most/least Adjective (the bravest, the most expensive) | Comparative synthetic (more beautiful than everyone) |
|
Conclusion
The comparative degree and the superlative degree are, in principle, an elementary topic. Here it is enough to know a few suffixes to successfully perform numerous grammatical exercises. By the way, this feature of adjectives and adverbs is characteristic of many languages. Here, for example, is English: comparative and superlative degrees in this language are formed by adding either a suffix to monosyllabic words or intensifying words to polysyllabic ones. Everything here is even simpler than here! If you wish, you can master this rule without difficulty. Practice, practice and more practice!
The difficulty of using qualitative adjectives also lies in the ability to form them degrees of comparison.
- Positive degree it is the simplest for all adjectives, since it simply says that a given attribute is present in the subject: cheerful, bright etc.
- Comparative degree says that some feature is manifested in an object to a greater or lesser extent. This degree is formed only from qualitative adjectives. It can be simple and complex. A simple one is formed with the help of parts of a word - morphemes, and a complex one - with the help of additional words. Moreover, words in the form of a simple comparative degree do not change, that is, they are not inflected.
Ways to form a simple comparative degree:
⇒Do not form a simple comparative form:
- adjectives that have become qualitative from possessive and relative: golden (guy), fox (character);
- adjectives that do not change in degrees, as they denote a constant attribute: blind, deaf, single;
- adjectives with suffixes - SK-, -ESK-, -OV-, -K-, -ONK-, -OVAT-, etc.: caustic, friendly, businesslike, small, whitish;<.li>
- adjectives denoting animal colors: black, gray, bay.
Moreover, words in the form of a complex comparative degree can easily be declined according to cases, genders and numbers.
Ways to form simple superlatives:
⇒Words that do not form the simple superlative form:
- those that do not form the form of the simple comparative degree (see above);
- individual adjectives with the suffixes -CHIV-, -LIV-, -K-: hot, trusting;
- adjectives with suffixes -IST-, -AST-: big-eyed, vocal.
Adjectives and adverbs in many languages of the world have degrees of comparison. In English these are Positive Degree, Comparative Degree and Superlative degree, in Polish – rywny, wyższy, najwyższy, in French – le positif, le comparatif, le superlatif. The Russian language is no exception; it has positive, comparative and superlative adjectives. How are they different and what are their forms?
Degrees of comparison: types, table
Adjectives and adverbs derived from them have the ability to form degrees of comparison.There are three of them:
- Positive.Comparative.Excellent.
From which adjectives can we form degrees of comparison?
As you know, all adjectives in the Russian language are divided into several categories.
- Qualitative - means attributes that an object or living being can have in different degrees: sweet, sweeter, sweetest. Relative - they name the attributes of an object or living being in their relation to circumstances, actions or other persons, things: a telephone call, a wooden building. Possessive - indicate that something belongs to someone: Pushkin’s stanza, father’s parting words.
Adverbs that come from the qualitative category of adjectives can also form degrees of comparison: cheerful - cheerfully (more cheerfully).
Comparative degree of adjectives in Russian
Before moving on to consider the comparative degree, it is worth mentioning a little about the positive degree. This is the name given to the initial degree of comparison (boring). In fact, it is considered only formally as a degree of comparison. But the next one is the comparative degree of the adjective (more boring, more boring). It serves to show that a certain object or person has a given quality in greater/lesser quantity than someone/something else. For example: “This tea is stronger (stronger) than the one we drank yesterday.”Information about comparative forms
In the example above, you can see that the comparative degree in Russian can be formed in the following ways: using suffixes or by adding an additional word (in this example it is “more”). It turns out that we can distinguish 2 forms of the comparative degree of adjectives in the Russian language: simple and compound, or, as it is sometimes called, complex.Methods for forming a simple shape
There are several ways to form it.- Using the suffixes -ee, -ey, -e, -she, added to the base: cheerful - more cheerful. However, it is worth remembering that if suffixes of the comparative degree of adjectives -e, -she are used, then alternation of consonants in the root of the word may occur, and the suffixes -k, -ok, -ek may be eliminated altogether. For example: narrow - narrower, voiced - louder. Sometimes a simple form can be formed by adding the same -ee, -ey, -e, -she, as well as the prefix po-. For example: soon - quickly, quickly - quickly. Adjectives formed in this way, as a rule, are the province of colloquial speech. Sometimes the comparative degree of adjectives in the Russian language is formed using a different word stem: bad - worse.
Complex shape
Unlike the simple one, it is formed not with the help of suffixes or prefixes, but by adding the words “more” or “less” to the adjective in the positive degree. For example: “Rembrandt was a more brilliant artist than most of his contemporaries, but he was truly appreciated years after his death.” Adjectives in a complex form are inflected by case, change by number and accordingly by gender, while “more” and "less" remain unchanged. For example: more powerful (powerful, powerful, powerful). Both in simple form and in compound form, comparative adjectives in a sentence serve as predicates or definitions: “Their relationship was closer and more elevated than that of anyone around them.” .Having considered the information about the comparative degree, it is now worth moving on to studying the superlative degree. And it will help you not to forget how the comparative degree of adjectives is formed - the table. It briefly outlines all the information about simple and complex forms and their formation.
Brief information about superlatives
It serves to demonstrate that a certain object or living being is absolutely superior to any other in a certain quality, which is represented in it to the highest degree.For example: “The third little pig’s house was the strongest and the wolf could not destroy it.”
A little about superlatives
Knowledge of how simple and complex comparative degrees of adjectives are formed will help you understand this topic. In the case of the superlative degree, both of its forms have similar names: simple and compound (complex) and are formed according to the corresponding principle.
They are formed according to the same principle:
- The simple one is formed by adding the suffixes -eysh, -aysh to the stem: caring – most caring. Similar to the comparative, the superlative may also have the stem suffix -k: low, lowest. A word formed using a simple superlative form is declined according to cases and changes according to numbers and genders. While the comparative degree of an adjective in a simple form is devoid of this property. For example: “light”. As mentioned above, in comparative form it is invariably “lighter”. But in the superlative degree - “brightest”, it can change: “brightest”, “brightest”. The compound (complex) form is formed by adding the words “most”, “least” or “most” (“most”, “most”, “ most") to an adjective in the positive degree. For example: the brightest, the least entertaining, the funniest. In some cases, the comparative degree of the adjective plus the word “all” may also participate in the formation. For example: “This girl completed the task faster than anyone in the class.” As with the comparative form, the superlative adjective changes according to the same categories. And the additional words: “most” or “least” remain unchanged: “The wolf ran the shortest route to Grandma’s house and got ahead of Little Red Riding Hood.” However, “most” also changes: “The wolf ran the shortest route to Grandma’s house and got ahead of Little Red Riding Hood.”
Superlative and comparative degrees of adjectives: exercises to consolidate knowledge
To better remember all the material presented, you should practice by doing a few fairly simple exercises.- In this task you need to form all possible forms of degrees according to the model: attractive, more attractive, more attractive, most attractive, most attractive, most attractive. In this exercise, you need to select both superlative forms of the adjective, mark the suffixes and underline the alternating letters, according to the patterns. In this task you need to find errors and explain. 1. Petrov is the best player in the entire team. 2. Things were getting worse in our company. 3. The air in the room became increasingly heavier. 4. Our enterprise turned out to be more successful. 5. Natasha’s shoes are cheaper than Sveta’s. In this exercise, you need to compare 2 objects of different properties, according to the example: French language and German (euphonious). – The French language is more euphonious than German. 1. Autumn and winter (warm). 2. Masha’s closet and Dima’s closet (convenient). 3. Laptop and smartphone (expensive). 4. Vladimir and Maxim (serious). 5. Katya and Valya (handsome). 6. Kyiv and Lvov (young).
ONLY QUALITATIVE ADJECTIVES HAVE DEGREES OF COMPARISON!
Qualitative adjectives differ in that they can denote a characteristic in varying degrees of its manifestation ( large – larger – largest). These forms are called degrees of comparison:
Comparative
Excellent
The paradigm of degrees of comparison also includes the adjective from which the forms of degrees of comparison are formed. The semantic basis of degrees of comparison is the quantitative assessment of the measure of the attribute. In the comparative degree paradigm, the original adjective is called the positive degree form.
Comparative degree (comparative) - denotes a quality that is found in one subject to a greater extent than in another, the name of which is put in the form of the gender or nominative case; the latter is preceded by a comparative conjunction How(truth is more valuable than gold).
Superlative (superlative) - denotes the highest degree of quality in a subject compared to another: most favorite writer; inflected like regular adjectives.
Comparative and superlative degrees can be expressed in simple (synthetic) and complex (analytical) forms.
Comparative degree
The simple form of the comparative degree does not change by gender, number and case; and therefore you need to be able to distinguish it from the form of the comparative degree of the adverb. If a word of this type is syntactically related to a noun, then it will compare the degree of the adjective; if it is connected to a verb, then it will compare the degree of the adverb ( oak is stronger than birch– adj; he squeezed the handle tighter– adverb)
Comparative forms tend to be used in the position of a connective, i.e. in the role of a predicate, but can also be a definition.
Formed from the base of the original adjective using suffixes –ee(s) – bolder,whiter(productive way) or –e, -she – more expensive, richer(unproductive way).
From adjectives with a stem on k, g, x and some words based on d, t, st comparative degree is formed using the suffix -e(in this case, final consonant stems alternate with sibilants) ( loud - louder, quiet - quieter, steep - steeper). In adjectives on -OK And -To the producing stem is truncation, the remaining final consonant alternates with a sibilant or paired soft ( high - above, low - below).
Comparative forms with suffix –she single ( distant - further, early - earlier, long - longer).
From three adjectives the form is formed suppletive way ( small - less, good - better, bad - worse).
Comparative forms are not formed from adjectives that name characteristics that do not change according to degrees. Sometimes they are not formed in accordance with the usage and not the meaning ( dilapidated, alien, scanty).
The complex form of degrees of comparison is formed by adding the word more. Moreover, such combinations can also be formed with a short form ( faster, more red).
Superlative
The simple form of the superlative degree has features in its meaning: in addition to the above basic meaning of the superiority of quality in an object compared to other objects, this form can denote the highest, extreme degree of quality in any object without comparison with others. In other words, it can denote a relatively high degree of quality: worst enemy, kindest creature.
The simple form is formed by adding a suffix –eysh (-aysh). Moreover, it is not formed from all adjectives; usually it is not found in those lexemes from which the comparative form is not formed. It may also be absent in those forms that have the form of a comparative degree. These are qualitative adjectives with suffixes –ast-, -ist, as well as many words with suffixes - liv-, -chiv-, -k-(narrow - narrower, hairy - hairier, silent - more silent).
A complex form is formed by combining a qualitative adjective and the word most. It is not related to lexical restrictions: the reddest, the kindest, the narrowest.
For adjectives with suffixes –ovat-(-evat-) no superlative form is formed, because the value of the incompleteness of the attribute is incompatible with the value of the high degree of the attribute ( the most deaf, the most deaf).
The superlative form denotes the highest degree of quality. Unlike the comparative degree, the superlative forms cannot express a comparative assessment of the degree of a characteristic in the same subject and in two subjects.
Here
Adjectives can have degrees of comparison: comparative and superlative.
The comparative degree of an adjective indicates that a characteristic characteristic of an object is manifested in it to a greater or lesser extent than in another object or objects:
Your briefcase is heavier than mine.
Your briefcase is heavier than mine.
The superlative degree indicates that in some one way the subject is superior to all other subjects:
Yerevan is the most ancient city in the world.
The comparative degree of adjectives has two forms:
simple and compound.
Simple form of comparative adjective
is formed by adding the suffixes -ee (-ee), -e, -she to the base of the initial form of the adjective:
kind - kinder, young - younger, thin - thinner.
The suffix of adjectives -k- (-ok-, -ek-) can be dropped if a simple
the comparative form is formed using the suffixes -e, -she.
In this case, there is also an alternation of consonants in the root:
low - lower, high - higher, thin - thinner.
Some adjectives have a comparative form with a different stem:
good is better, bad is worse, small is less.
The forms of the comparative degree in -ee(s), -e, -she can be joined by the prefix po-, which enhances or softens the degree of manifestation of the characteristic in one of the objects:
kinder (s), softer, thinner.
These forms, as well as forms like bolder, are characteristic of colloquial speech:
By nightfall the wind became stronger. The nights have become warmer.
The simple form of the comparative degree is unchangeable,
has no endings, but acts as a predicate in a sentence
or (less commonly) definitions:
Kind words are better than soft pie. Put on a warm coat.
The simple form of the comparative degree cannot be formed from all adjectives (timid, tall, businesslike, etc.).
The compound form of the comparative degree is formed by adding the words more or less to the initial form of the adjective:
fast - faster, loud - less loud.
The second word in the compound form of the comparative degree changes according to gender, case and number:
deeper snow, deeper river, along deeper rivers.
Adjectives in the compound form of the comparative degree in a sentence can be predicates and modifiers:
Our arguments are more subtle and profound. No one could give more convincing arguments.
When forming a compound comparative form
Avoid mistakes like more beautiful.
The superlative degree of adjectives has two forms:
simple and compound.
The simple superlative form of adjectives is formed by adding the suffixes -eysh- (-aysh-) to the base of the initial form of the adjective:
modest - the most modest, great - the greatest.
Before -aysh- there is an alternation of consonants:
strict - the strictest, quiet - the quietest.
The suffix -k- may appear: close - closest.
The simple form of the superlative degree changes according to gender, number,
cases. In a sentence it is a predicate or (less often) a definition:
The journey is most interesting. This was a story about an interesting journey.
The simple superlative form is most often used in literary speech.
