Irregular Comparison

Some adjectives are compared irregularly. The following list contains most of those thus compared:

An older brother, an older horse.

Older and oldest are used in speaking of both persons and things.

My elder brother, my eldest sister.

Elder and eldest are used in speaking of persons only.

Minor, major, junior, senior, interior, exterior, posterior, superior, inferior, ulterior, prior.

Some adjectives are used in the comparative only. These adjectives are from the Latin and are in the comparative degree in that language.

1. My horse is less valuable than yours.

2. John's book is the least soiled of any in the class.

These sentences show that degrees below the positive may be expressed by prefixing less or least to the positive.

1. James is the taller of the two brothers.

2. Mary is less able than her sister.

3. Mr. Peters is the tallest man in town.

4. John is the most diligent boy in the school.

It is seen by these sentences that the comparative degree of an adjective is used when only two persons or things are compared, and the superlative is used when more than two persons or things are compared.

Everlasting, eternal, immortal, supreme, extreme, perpendicular.

Adjectives that express the highest degree of a quality are not compared.

Write sentences using the following adjectives in the positive, comparative and superlative degrees: bright, late, early, wet, hot, friendly, capable, active, many, good.

Write sentences using these adjectives to express degrees below the positive: rough, restless, civil, picturesque, little.

Write five sentences comparing one thing with one other, or comparing only two things. Write five sentences comparing more than two things.