In academic writing, the writers have their focus on the delivery of exact meanings. For this purpose, when they modify nouns, they have to fall back upon the gradability of adjectives. Further, they have to attend to the structural appropriacy of the phrases constructed with adjectives. In comparing the intensity of concepts, they need to consider the level of comparisons as well. All these measures help them make the correct use of gradable and ungradable adjectives which result in logical and natural sentences in their texts. This post provides a relevant information about all the said aspects of gradable adjectives.
1. Gradable Adjectives
Many adjectives are gradable or scalable. It means they denote properties that can apply with varying degrees and can be modified by adverbs of degree.
- Very happy, quite reasonable, rather serious, too hot, incredibly painful (degree modification)
- better, smaller, larger, hottest, weaker, broader, highest, smarter, cheaper, best (inflection for grade)
The adjectives that are originally longer words such as expensive, comfortable, predictable, clever, etc. do not take -er and -est suffixes. Thus, their comparative and superlative degree are constituted by adding adverbs ‘more’ and ‘most’ before them, e.g., more intelligent, most intelligent, less predictable, least predictable, etc.
There are some other adjectives that are non-gradable because they denote non-scalar properties, e.g., the major difficulty, the district government, my right hand, third degree, etc.However, there are some adjectives that can be used in gradable as well as non-gradable mode.
a. Today weather is cold today. [non-gradable]
b. He was cold in the today’s meeting. [Gradable]
2. Semantics of Grading
Grading represents determining the quantity of a quality. When a certain noun’s quantity of quality is not compared with the quality of any other entity, it is called positive degree of the quality. When it is compared with the quantity of the quality of any other similar thing, it is called comparative degree. Further, when it is compared to that of the quality of every other entity belonging to the category, it is called superlative. Thus, on the basis of the semantics of grading, adjectives can be placed into three levels, i.e., positive adjectives, comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives (Ruzhekova-Rogozherova, 2023).
3. The Comparable Qualities
The comparable qualities may relate to ‘physical size”, e.g., height (tall, taller, tallest), or length (long, longer, longest). Similarly, these qualities may also be related to ‘performance (powerful)’, ‘speed (fast)’, ‘value (expensive)’, ‘traits (smart)’, etc. The related constructions and adjectives are used to express the quantity of graded qualities. The highest level of quantity of a quality of entities (that belong to a set of things) is expressed by using a superlative adjective. In other words, a superlative adjective indicates a unique entity within a set of objects.
4. Non-Periphrastic and Periphrastic Grading
Non-periphrastic and periphrastic grading are two different ways of forming the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs. In the case of non-periphrastic grading, suffixes (i.e., smaller and smallest) are directly attached to the base word. Such type of grading is also known as synthetic grading. When it comes to periphrastic grading, separate function words (adverbs) are used instead of adding suffixes to base words (e.g., more suitable and most suitable). This sort of grading is also known as analytic grading.
5. Use of Definite Article ‘The’
The learning writers should understand that when the determiner ‘the’ is placed before a superlative adjective, e.g. “the fastest train or the most brilliant scholar.” The presence of the helps superlative adjectives indicate that the entities present after them are unique within the set of its related entities. In this language phenomenon, ‘the’ and superlative adjective go in a compatible manner (Ruzhekova-Rogozherova, 2023).
5.1 ‘The’ before Superlative Adjectives
This article (i.e. the) stays before the superlative adjectives. It is important to note that whether an adjective is periphrastic superlative or non-periphrastic superlative, the placement of ‘the’ is obligatory. However, ‘the’ is not placed when some other determiner is already there before the superlative adjective. For example:
a. This is my (the*) most favourite food.
b. She likes to wear her (*the) brightest dress to the social events.
5.2 Use of ‘The’ to Emphasize Referent’s Uniqueness
It is important to note that general situations, common knowledge, or additional information (anaphoric or cataphoric) cannot carry uniqueness. Contrarily, superlatives adjectives referring to a certain number of entities and actions can give birth to uniqueness. Thus, the use of ‘the’ is closely associated to superlative adjectives and ordinal numbers. For example:
a. This is the most heinous crime he has made.
b. This is the third car he has purchase in this year.
5.3 Irregular Forms of Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Mostly adjectives take – er and –est suffixes for their comparative and superlative forms. However, the comparative and superlative forms of some adjectives are constructed in an irregular manner as well. Thus, the positive adjective ‘little’ turns into ‘less’ and ‘least’ and ‘bad’ into ‘worse’ and ‘worst’ for their comparative and superlative degrees (Garner, 1995).
6. Extreme Comparison Expressing Adjectives
There are certain adjectives that are in themselves extreme comparison expressing adjectives, e.g. unique, perfect, complete, etc. These are the adjectives that do not admit of comparative degree. However, in case of some adjectives such as ‘perfect’ can take more and full suffix -er before them. For example, the adjective ‘complete’ commonly does not accept more before it, however, in some cases, it can be phrased as ‘more nearly complete’. Similarly, less can be put before ‘adequate’ and ‘fatal’ and more before ‘preferable’ (Garner, 1995).
7. Upgrading Adjectives
Upgrading adjectives are the ones that use precise, higher-level descriptives” Extremely beneficial, remarkably effective, etc.
7.1 Intensification of Adjectives
For the purpose of intensification (to express high degree) of adjectives and adverbs, the intensifiers like ‘very’, ‘much’ or ‘very much’ are used. However, their use varies with different adjectives and adverbs (https://guinlist.wordpress.com/)
7.1.1. Use of Adverb ‘Very’
The adverb ‘very’ is primarily used before gradable adjectives (i.e., the adjectives that can be measured with a scale or grade). The examples of these examples include ‘large’, ‘hot’, ‘difficult’, ‘happy’, etc. The learning writers should be aware that ‘very’ is not used before absolute (ungradable) adjectives such as ‘unique’, ‘dead’, ‘perfect’, etc.
7.1.2 Use of Adverb ‘Much’
The adverb ‘much’ is primarily used before comparative adjectives, adjectives in negative context, and past participles when their role is of adjectives. For example:
a. He looks much happier in his new position.
b. This car is not much different from the one we purchased last year.
c. He looked much disappointed at his failure in driving test.
7.1.3 Use of Very Much
‘Very much’ is an adverb phrase. This phrase is not commonly used before standard positive adjectives. ‘Very much’ is used before comparative, superlative adjectives, -ed adjectives (passive participles), and -ing noun or adjective (present participle). Its purpose is to add emphasis to the constructions in which it is used, i.e., very makes the meaning of much stronger. In other words, the meaning of very much are stronger than that of very only. For example:
a. He is very much better at tennis.
b. This is the very much best scene of this hilly area.
c. I was very much shocked when I saw the damaged bus in the accident.
d. The movie was very much enjoyed by the viewers.
e. The new trade modes are very much emerging in this digital era.
When the writers have to select a modifier/intensifier, i.e., ‘very’, ‘much’, or ‘very much’, they need to keep in mind the differences present between words expressing adjectives.
8. Use of Gradable Antonym Pairs of Adjectives
Sometimes, two adjectives stay with roughly same meanings. However, the difference between them is of strength or intensity. In these pairs of adjectives, the stronger word is often considered absolute adjective. For example:
a. I have an important meeting this evening.
b. Healthy food plays a crucial role in our body.
a. My father was angry at my late arrival.
b. The boss became furious when he saw my incomplete draft.
In the first (a) and (b) pair of sentences, two adjectives ‘important’ and ‘crucial’ give roughly same meaning but ‘crucial’ is stronger. Similarly, in the second pair ‘angry’ and ‘furious’ are there with same meaning whereas ‘furious’ is stronger.
9. Adjectives and their Related Noun Partners
Some adjectives opt for their noun partners in phrases, i.e., they are paired with concrete or abstract nouns. For example, large refers to ‘dimension’, ‘volume’, or ‘quantity’, thus it stays with things like house, e.g. large house. And, if we focus on great, it refers to ‘importance’, ‘quality’, or ‘magnitude’, consequently it stays with the nouns like ‘achievement’ as in ‘great achievement’.
10. The Role of the Adjective Gradability in a Sentence
The adjectives’ gradability enables writers to present a quality in a sentence with exact intensity. This they can do by using degree adverbs (slightly, very, extremely, etc.), or relative comparison (-er, -est). The correct use of gradable and ungradable adjectives keep sentences logical and natural. The examples given below indicate this:
a. He became extremely violent in his quarrel with his brother.
b. Today is the coldest day of the week.
c. He is really happy on his birthday.
d. She is completely engrossed in her writing task.
e. Aslam is a very perfect moderator.
The example (a) indicates that the writer has used degree adverb i.e., extremely for the adjective ‘violent’ for showing an appropriate level of the quality of the adjective. In (b), relative comparison is visible. In (c), the level modifier really stays associated with the gradable adjective ‘happy’. In (d), adjective ‘engrossed’ take totality modifier completely. In (e), ‘perfect’ is non gradable adjective therefore degree adverb very cannot be used before it.
In sum, this post first gives an account of gradable adjectives along with semantics of grading and explains what comparable qualities are. Next, it details about the construction of non-periphrastic and periphrastic grading. Then, the use of definite article “the” has been detailed specially with reference to superlative adjectives and for emphasizing referent’s uniqueness. Later, irregular forms of comparative and superlative adjectives have been explained. In the end, along with various qualities of gradable adjectives, the role of the adjective gradability in a sentence have been highlighted. On the whole, all this information about the gradability of adjectives is very enlightening and useful for academic writers.
Sources Cited
- Garner, B. A. (1995). The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style. Oxford University Press. www.oup-usa.org
2. https://guinlist.wordpress.com/
3. Ruzhekova-Rogozherova, B. (2023). Language Awareness Importance in ELT: The Case of Superlative Adjectives Presentation
