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The associated grammatical category is degree of comparison. [1] The usual degrees of comparison are the positive, which simply denotes a property (as with the English words big and fully); the comparative, which indicates greater degree (as bigger and more fully); and the superlative, which indicates greatest degree (as biggest and most fully ...
In general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as well as positive and superlative degrees of comparison.
In grammar, nouns in the superlative case (abbreviated SUPL or more ambiguously SUP) typically denote objects over which or onto the top of which another object moves (movement over or onto the top of is important here). In English, similar meanings are expressed by nouns following the prepositions on top of and over preceded by a verb of motion:
Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as very and fairly, although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as completely.
Many adjectives inflect for degree of comparison. For example, hot has the comparative form hotter and the superlative form hottest. Typically, short adjectives (including most single-syllable adjectives that are semantically gradable), adjectives originating in Old English, and short adjectives borrowed from French use the -er and -est suffixes.
A double superlative is the use of both "most" and the suffix "-est" to form the superlative of an adjective in English grammar. [1] This grammatical practice has been contested throughout the history of the English language.
Ramaswamy’s personal wealth was well-known on campus, so much so that classmates deemed him “most likely to conduct a hostile takeover of the law school,” when assigning superlatives to the ...
In Semitic linguistics, the elative (Arabic: اِسْمُ تَفْضِيل ismu tafḍīl, literally meaning "noun of preference") is a stage of gradation that can be used to express comparatives or superlatives. The Arabic elative has a special inflection similar to that of colour and defect adjectives but differs in the details.