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Comparison (grammar)

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-{{mergeto|Comparison (grammar)|date=November 2015}}
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-{{for|the noun case|superlative case}}
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-{{wiktionary|superlative}}
-In [[grammar]], the '''superlative''' is the form of an [[adverb]] or [[adjective]] that is the greatest degree of a given descriptor. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix ''-est'' (e.g. ''healthiest'', ''weakest'') or the word ''most'' (''most recent'', ''most interesting''). One [[preposition]], ''near'', also has a superlative form, as in ''Find the restaurant nearest your house''.
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-==In English==
+{{R from merge}}
-===Irregular superlatives===
-While almost all English superlatives are formed by the suffix -''est'' (for one-syllable and some two-syllable words) or by the use of the preceding word ''most'' (for some words of two syllables and all words of three or more syllables), the adjective ''good'' and the adverb ''well'' have the irregular superlative form ''best'': ''she is good at it / she is best at it; he did well / he did best''. Other adjectives or adverbs with irregular superlatives include ''bad/worst'', ''far/farthest'' or ''furthest'', ''many/most'' and ''much/most''.
-===Superlatives with absolutes===
-Some grammarians object to the use of the superlative or comparative with words such as ''full'', ''complete'', ''unique'', or ''empty'', which by definition already denote either a totality, an absence, or an absolute.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Quirk, et al.|1985|pp=404, 593}}</ref> However, such words are routinely and frequently qualified in contemporary speech and writing. This type of usage conveys more of a [[Literal and figurative language|figurative]] than a literal meaning, because in a strictly literal sense, something cannot be more or less unique or empty to a greater or lesser degree. On the other hand, in a strict literal sense, absolutes do only exist within rigorous abstract concepts, such as mathematics, but not in the real world or in the sense of human cognition or communication. For example, in the phrase "most complete selection of wines in the Midwest," "complete" doesn't mean "having all elements represented," it merely connotes that the selection is more well-rounded and relatively extensive. The superlative in this case is not intended to indicate absolutely that all other existing selections are necessarily less extensive, but it suggests that it is probably and currently the most extensive collection officially known.
-By another example, an "empty bucket" does not literally exist outside of our imagination, because there is, literally speaking, always some kind of residue in it, and if some of that residue were to be removed, it would logically require either that the bucket becomes "more empty" upon removal, or that it cannot ever be empty in the first place. Similarly, the bucket can logically, but not grammatically, be "most empty" if the superlative denotes something like: "most empty within the limits of current technology." Since applying such an overly literal meaning to superlatives and absolutes is of little use in the real world and common language, it raises the question of whether the grammar rules themselves should be adjusted to permit the usage of absolutes in conjunction with comparatives or superlatives to refer to a state that is ''closer'' or ''closest'' to fitting the literal definition of the absolute, relative to others in a group. Such a change would allow for a more accurate representation of the world by language and its rules; for example, referring to the bucket with the smallest amount of residue amongst a group of buckets as "most empty" would be both logically and grammatically correct.
-==In other languages==
-===Romance languages===
-In contrast to English, the elative and the superlative are joined into the same degree (the superlative), which can be of two kinds: comparative (e.g. "the most beautiful") and absolute (e.g. "very beautiful").
-[[French language|French]]: The superlative is created from the comparative by inserting the definitive article (la, le, or les), or the possessive article (''mon'', ''ton'', ''son'', etc.), before "plus" or "moins" and the adjective determining the noun. For instance: ''Elle est la plus belle femme'' → (she is the most beautiful woman); ''Cette ville est la moins chère de France'' → (this town is the least expensive in France); ''C'est sa plus belle robe'' → (It is her most beautiful dress). It can also be created with the suffixe "-issime" but only with certain words, for example: "C'est un homme richissime" → (That is the most rich man). Its use is often rare and ironic.
-[[Spanish language|Spanish]]:  The '''comparative superlative''', like in French, has the definite article (such as "las" or "el"), or the possessive article ("tus," "nuestra," "su," etc.), followed by the comparative ("más" or "menos"), so that "el meñique es ''el'' dedo ''más pequeño''" or "el meñique es ''el'' ''más pequeño'' de los dedos" is "the pinky is ''the smallest'' finger." Irregular comparatives are "mejor" for "bueno" and "peor" for "malo," which can be used as comparative superlatives also by adding the definite article or possessive article, so that "''nuestro peor'' error fue casarnos" is "''our worst'' mistake was to get married."
-The '''absolute superlative''' is normally formed by modifying the adjective by adding ''-ísimo'', ''-ísima'', ''-ísimos'' or ''-ísimas'', depending on the gender or number. Thus, "¡Los chihuahuas son perros pequeñísimos!" is "Chihuahuas are such tiny dogs!" Some irregular superlatives are "máximo" for "grande," "pésimo" for "malo," "ínfimo" for "bajo," "óptimo" for "bueno," "acérrimo" for "acre," "paupérrimo" for "pobre," "celebérrimo" for "célebre."
-There is a difference between comparative superlative and absolute superlative: ''Ella es la más bella'' → (she is the most beautiful); ''Ella es bellísima'' → (she is extremely beautiful).
-[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] distinguish comparative superlative ''(superlativo relativo)'' and absolute superlative ''(superlativo absoluto/assoluto).
-For the comparative superlative they use the words "mais" and "più" between the article and the adjective, like "most" in English.
-For the absolute superlative they either use "muito"/"molto" and the adjective or modify the adjective by taking away the final vowel and adding ''issimo'' (singular masculine), ''issima'' (singular feminine), ''íssimos''/''issimi'' (plural masculine), or ''íssimas''/''issime'' (plural feminine). For example:
-*''Aquele avião é velocíssimo''/''Quell'aeroplano è velocissimo'' → That airplane is very fast
-There are some irregular forms for some words ending in "-re" and "-le" (deriving from [[Latin language|Latin]] words ending in "-er" and "-ilis") that have a superlative form similar to the Latin one. In the first case words lose the ending "-re" and they gain the endings ''errimo'' (singular masculine), ''errima'' (singular feminine), ''érrimos''/''errimi'' (plural masculine), or ''érrimas''/''errime'' (plural feminine); in the second case words lose the "-l"/"-le" ending and gain ''ílimo''/''illimo'' (singular masculine), ''ílima''/''illima'' (singular feminine), ''ílimos''/''illimi'' (plural masculine), or ''ílimas''/''illime'' (plural feminine), the irregular form for words ending in "-l"/"-le" is somehow rare and, in Italian but nor is Portuguese, it exists only in the archaic or literary language. For example:
-*"Acre" (''acer'' in Latin) which means acrid, becomes "acérrimo"/"acerrimo" ("acerrimus" in Latin). "Magro" ("thin" in Portuguese) becomes "magérrimo."
-*Italian ''simile'' (''similis'' in Latin) which means "similar," becomes (in ancient Italian) "simillimo" ("simillimus" in Latin).
-*Portuguese ''difícil'' ("hard/difficult") and ''fácil'' (facile).
-[[Romanian language|Romanian]], similar to Portuguese and Italian, distinguishes comparative and absolute superlatives. The comparative uses the word "mai" before the adjective, which operates like "more" or "-er" in English. For example: ''luminos'' → bright, ''mai luminos'' → brighter. To weaken the adjective, the word "puțin" (little) is added between "mai" and the adjective, for example ''mai puțin luminos'' → less bright. For absolute superlatives, the gender-dependent determinant "cel" precedes "mai," conjugated as "cel / cei" for male singular / plural and "cea / cele" for female singular / plural. For example: ''cea mai luminoasă stea'' → the brightest star; ''cele mai frumoase fete'' → the most beautiful girls; ''cel mai mic morcov'' → the smallest carrot.
-===Celtic languages===
-[[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]]: When comparing one entity to another in the present or the future tense, the adjective is changed by adding an ''e'' to the end and ''i'' before the final consonant(s) if the final vowel is broad. Then, the adjective is preceded by "nas" to say "more," and ''as'' to say "most." (The word ''na'' is used to mean ''than''.) Adjectives that begin with ''f'' are lenited.  and ''as'' use different syntax constructions. For example:
-Tha mi nas àirde na mo pheathraichean.'' → I am taller than my sisters.
-Is mi as àirde.'' → I am the tallest.
-As in English, some forms are irregular, i.e. nas fheàrr (better), nas miosa (worse), etc.
-In other tenses, ''nas'' is replaced by ''na bu'' and ''as'' by ''a bu,'' both of which [[Lenition|lenite]] the adjective if possible. If the adjective begins with a vowel or an ''f'' followed by a vowel, the word ''bu'' is reduced to ''b'''. For example:
-*''Bha mi na b' àirde na mo pheathraichean.'' → I was taller than my sisters.
-*''B' e mi a b' àirde.'' → I was the tallest.
-[[Welsh Language|Welsh]] is similar to English in many respects.  The ending ''-af'' is added onto regular adjectives in a similar manner to the English ''-est'', and with (most) long words ''mwyaf'' precedes it, as in the English ''most''.  Also, many of the most common adjectives are irregular.  Unlike English, however, when comparing just two things, the superlative ''must'' be used, e.g. of two people - ''John ydy'r talaf'' (John is the tallest).
-===Akkadian===
-[[Image:AmarnaLetterOfMarriageNegotiation-BritishMuseum-August19-08.jpg|right|240px|thumb|[[Amarna letter EA 19]], Para 2, (last line): "...the Gods and (our Kingly relations), forever"..."''may it be'', (one verb, (5 signs, e-le-[[ni (cuneiform)|né]]-ep-pi)), ''I-n-t-e-r-R-e-l-a-t-e-d''-!." <br>(The first sign "e" is rubbed off; only a space-(depression) locates it.)-(high resolution expandible photo)]]
-In [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] [[cuneiform]], (on a 12 paragraph [[clay tablet]]), from the [[time period]] of the 1350 BC [[Amarna letters]] (a roughly 20-year [[text corpus|body]] of letters), two striking examples of the superlative extend the common grammatical use. The first is the numeral "10," as well as "7 and 7." The second is a verb-spacement adjustment.
-The term [[Amarna letters-phrases and quotations#7 times and 7 times again|"7 and 7"]] means 'over and over'. The phrase itself is a superlative, but an addition to some of the Amarna letters adds "more" at the end of the phrase (EA 283, ''Oh to see the King-(pharaoh):'' ''"... I fall at the feet of the king, my lord. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, 7 and 7 times'' '''''more,''''' ''...."''.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Moran|1992|pp=323–324}}</ref> The word 'more' is Akkadian ''mila'', and by Moran is 'more' or 'overflowing'. The meaning in its letter context is "...over and over again, overflowing," (as 'gushingly', or 'obsequiously', as an underling of the king).
-The numeral 10 is used for ''ten times greater'' in EA 19, ''Love and Gold'', one of King [[Tushratta]]'s eleven letters to the Pharaoh-([[Amenhotep IV]]-''[[Akhenaton]]''). The following quote using 10, also closes out the small paragraph by the second example of the superlative, where the verb that ends the last sentence is spread across the letter in s-p-a-c-i-n-g, to accentuate the last sentence, and the verb itself (i.e. the relational kingly topic of the paragraph):
-:''".... Now, in keeping with our constant and mutual love, you have made it'' '''10''' ''times greater than the love shown my father. May the gods grant it, and may [[Teshub|Teššup]], my lord, and [[Amun|Aman]] make'' flourish ''for evermore, just as it is now, this mutual love of ours.''<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Moran|1992|pp=42–46}}</ref>
-The actual last paragraph line contains three words: 'may it be', 'flourish', and 'us'. The verb flourish (from napāhu?, ''to light up, to rise''), uses: -e-le-[[ni (cuneiform)|né]]-ep-pi-, and the spaces. The other two words on the line, are made from two characters, and then one: ''"...may it be, flourish-our (relations)."''
-===Estonian===
-In Estonian superlative form can usually made up in two ways. One is constructed with words "kõige" + comparative form. It can be made with all adjectives. For example: "sinine" (blue) comparative form is "sinisem" and therefore superlative form is "kõige sinisem." The short superlative form is made up by adding "-m" to the end of plural partitive case. Plural partitive from the word "sinine" (blue) is "siniseid" and therefore "siniseim" is short superlative. Short superlative cannot be made up with all adjectives and in difference of the "kõige"-form, it has a lot of exceptions.
-==See also==
-*[[Comparative syntax in English|Comparative]]
-*[[Comparison (grammar)]]
-*[[Greatness]]
-== References ==
-=== Citations ===
-{{Reflist}}
-=== Bibliography ===
-* {{citation
-|last = [[William L. Moran|Moran]]
-|first = [[William L. Moran|William L.]]
-|origyear = 1987|year = 1992
-|title = The Amarna Letters
-|url = http://www.amazon.com/Amarna-Letters-William-L-Moran/dp/0801867150#reader_0801867150
-|edition = 2nd
-|publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
-|place = Baltimore
-|isbn = 0-80186-715-0
 }}
-* {{citation
-|last = Quirk
-|first = Randolph
-|last2 = Greenbaum
-|first2 = Sidney
-|last3 = Leech
-|first3 = Geoffrey
-|last4 = Svartvik
-|first4 = Jan
-|year = 1985
-|title = A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language
-|publisher = Longman
-}}
-[[Category:Superlatives| ]]
-[[Category:Amarna letters]]
-[[Category:Grammar]]