Comparison of Adjectives

Comparison of Adjectives Comparison of Adjectives Comparison of Adjectives By Maeve Maddox If memory serves, I was taught the rules for comparing adjectives in fifth or sixth grade: 1. Adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative. 2. The comparative is formed with -er or more. 3. The superlative is formed with -est or most. 4. Short words like big and happy take -er and -est: big, bigger, biggest; happy, happier, happiest. 5. Long words, like beautiful and intelligent take more and most: beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful; intelligent, more intelligent, most intelligent. This simplified summary applies in most situations. Fine-tuning comes with reading experience. Yet many speakers seem not to have learned these general rules for comparing adjectives: He’ll go out of his way to be nice to your friends and family so he can make a good impression on them, even if it’s only because he knows that’ll make you more happy. I am more strong than I have ever been and my clients are getting better results as well. It did make my lawn more green. product review How to make your company more green Let’s make the world more greener. Making cars more greener How to make your neighborhood more safe figuring out how to make low-income communities more safer for women. These quotations are taken from various blogs. One could say, â€Å"Well, these aren’t professional journalists, so why be so critical?† It seems to me that the general rules for the comparison of adjectives can be mastered by a twelve-year-old. Anyone who has completed eight years of formal education can be expected to have gotten the hang of it. But it is not only the amateur writers who get it wrong. The following is from a writer who has shared two Pulitzer prizes: [something to do with economics] is a more strong indicator.† Linguists might argue that dropping of the -er, -est forms is driven by the natural urge of the language towards grammatical simplification. Perhaps. But â€Å"more greener† and â€Å"more safer†? I don’t think that has anything to do with evolutionary simplification of the language. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of Rhyme15 Types of Documents20 Names of Body Parts and Elements and Their Figurative Meanings

Giraffatitan - Facts and Figures

Giraffatitan - Facts and Figures Name: Giraffatitan (Greek for giant giraffe); pronounced jih-RAFF-ah-tie-tan Habitat: Plains and woodlands of Africa Historical Period: Late Jurassic (150 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 80 feet long and 40 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; quadrupedal posture; longer front than hind legs; long, massive neck About Giraffatitan Giraffatitan is one of those dinosaurs that dances around the fringes of respectability: its existence is attested to by numerous fossil specimens (discovered in the African nation of Tanzania), but the suspicion lingers that this giant giraffe was actually a species of an existing genus of sauropod, most likely Brachiosaurus. However Giraffatitan winds up being classified, theres no doubt that it was one of the tallest (if not one of the heaviest) sauropods ever to walk the earth, with a hugely elongated neck that would have allowed it to hold its head more than 40 feet above ground level (a pose that most paleontologists think is unrealistic, considering the metabolic demands this would have placed on Giraffatitans heart). Although Giraffatitan does bear a marked resemblance to a modern giraffeespecially considering its long neck and longer front than hind legsits name is a bit deceptive. Most dinosaurs that end with the Greek root titan are titanosaursthe widespread family of thunderous, four-legged plant-eaters that evolved from the sauropods of the late Jurassic period, and were characterized by their large sizes and   lightly armored skin. Even at 80 feet long and upwards of 30 to 40 tons, Giraffitan would have been dwarfed by the true titanosaurs of the later Mesozoic Era, such as Argentinosaurus and the oddly spelled Futalognkosaurus, both of which lived in late Cretaceous South America.