Degree of Comparison - Comparison in English

Comparison in English

English, because of the complex etymology of its lexicon, has two parallel systems of comparison. One involves the suffixes -er (the "comparative") and -est (the "superlative"). These inflections are of Germanic origin, and are cognate with the Latin suffixes -ior and -issimus. They are typically added to shorter words, words of Anglo-Saxon origin, and borrowed words that have been fully assimilated into the English vocabulary. Usually the words that take these inflections have fewer than three syllables. This system contains a number of irregular forms, some of which, like good, better, best, contain suppletive forms. These irregular forms include:

Positive Comparative Superlative
good better best
well better best
bad worse worst
far farther farthest
far further furthest
little smaller, less(er) smallest, least
many, much more most

Read more about this topic:  Degree Of Comparison

Famous quotes containing the words comparison and/or english:

    But the best read naturalist who lends an entire and devout attention to truth, will see that there remains much to learn of his relation to the world, and that it is not to be learned by any addition or subtraction or other comparison of known quantities, but is arrived at by untaught sallies of the spirit, by a continual self-recovery, and by entire humility.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
    A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire.
    Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)