Comparison is a feature in the grammar of some languages, whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected or modified to produce forms which indicate the relative degree of the designated properties.
The grammatical category associated with comparison of adjectives and adverbs is degree of comparison. 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).Some languages have forms indicating a very large degree of a particular quality (called elative in Semitic linguistics).
- Formation of comparatives and superlatives
Comparatives and superlatives may be formed morphologically, by inflection, as with the English and German -er and -(e)st forms, or syntactically, as with the English more... and most... and the French plus... and le plus... forms. Common adjectives and adverbs often produce irregular forms, such as better and best (from good) and less and least (from little/few) in English, and meilleur (from bon) and mieux (from the adverb bien) in French.
- Comparative and superlative constructions
Comparatives are often used with a conjunction or other grammatical means to indicate with what the comparison is being made, as with than in English, als in German, etc. In Russian this can be done by placing the compared noun in the genitive case. With superlatives, the class of things being considered for comparison may be indicated, as in the best swimmer out of all the girls.
Languages also possess other structures for comparing adjectives and adverbs; English examples include as...as and less/least....
- Usage when considering only two things
In many languages, including English, traditional grammar requires the comparative form to be used when exactly two things are being considered, even in constructions where the superlative would be used when considering a larger number. For instance, May the better man win would be considered correct if there are only two individuals competing. However this rule is not always observed in informal usage; the form May the best man win will often be used in that situation, as it would if there were three or more competitors involved.[2]
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar