COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

The adjectives and adverbs have in common comparison, which means that the
qualities of things/ beings/ actions can be quantified and compared.
The adjectives are of two types, according to the way they form the Comparative
and the Superlative:
I. Regular Adjectives form the Comparative and the Superlative in the same
way for all the adjectives of a certain category. They are of two types:
1. Short Adjectives (1- or at most 2-syllable adjectives), which form the
Comparative and the Superlative synthetically, by the inflection with the suffixes
-er and -est
 most adjectives add -er and -est
cold – colder – the coldest
kind – kinder – the kindest
 the adjectives ending in e add -r and -st
nice – nicer – the nicest
free – freer – the freest
 the adjectives ending in y preceded by a vowel add -er and -est
gray – grayer – the grayest
 the adjectives ending in y preceded by a consonant change y into i
happy – happier – the happiest
dry – drier – the driest
 the adjectives ending in a consonant preceded by a short vowel double the final
consonant
big – bigger – the biggest
mad – madder – the maddest
fit – fitter – the fittest
thin – thinner – the thinnest
2. Long Adjectives (adjectives of more than 1 or 2 syllables), which form the
Comparative and the Superlative analytically, by adding the words more and the
most
beautiful – more beautiful – the most beautiful
There are some 2-syllable adjectives which have double forms, both a synthetic
and an analytical one:
clever – cleverer – the cleverest
more clever – the most clever
Adjectives of this type are: lovely, angry, friendly, lonely, sunny, foggy, narrow,
shallow, hollow, subtle, noble, idle, mature, obscure, handsome, etc.
II. Irregular Adjectives have distinct forms from all the other adjectives

good better the best

well
bad
ill worse the worst
evil
much more the most
many
little less the least
far farther the farthest
further the furthest
old older the oldest
elder the eldest
late later the latest
latter the last
fore (din faţă, former the first
dinainte)
near nearer the nearest
the next

He is my elder brother.
She is the elder of the two sisters.
* She is elder than me. [impossible construction]
My eldest brother is a doctor.
He is the eldest of the family.
further 1. mai departe, mai depărtat în spaţiu (tends to replace farther altogether)
He lives further than me.
2. mai departe, mai depărtat în timp
Further on we’ll talk about it.
3. suplimentar, în plus
I need some further data.
4. ulterior
Further events proved him wrong.
The library will be closed until further notice.
the former – primul (din doi)
the latter – al doilea (din doi)
the first – primul
the last – ultimul
at first – la început, în primul rând
 at last – în final, în cele din urmă, în ultimul rând
at most – cel mult; maximum
at least – cel puţin, măcar; minimum
at best – în cel mai bun caz
at worst – în cel mai rău caz
Superlative adjectives formed with -MOST:
utmost westernmost
uttermost easternmost
upmost southernmost
uppermost northernmost
topmost inmost
nethermost innermost
foremost outmost
hindmost outermost
THE DEGREES OF COMPARISON
There are 3 degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs:
I. POSITIVE
nice
good
interesting
II. COMPARATIVE
1. Comparative of superiority
nicer
better THAN…
more interesting (ca/ decât)
He is taller than me/ than I thought.
2. Comparative of inferiority
nice
less good THAN…
interesting (ca/ decât)
They seemed less interested than us.
3. Comparative of equality
nice
as good AS…
interesting
She was as nice as I remembered.
 The structure AS + Adjective + AS has the same meaning as the
structure THE SAME + Noun + AS
as long/short as → the same length as
as old/ young as → the same age as
as hot/ warm/ cold as → the same temperature as
 as big/ large/ small as → the same size as
as wide/ narrow as → the same width as
as deep/ shallow as → the same depth as
as broad/ narrow as → the same breadth as
as strong/ weak as → the same strength as
as far/ near as → the same distance as
 Comparatives of equality in idiomatic structures have a superlative
meaning (SIMILES or SET COMPARISONS)
as old as the hills (vechi de când lumea, foarte vechi)
as good as gold (foarte cuminte)
as brown as a berry (foarte bronzat)
as keen as mustard (foarte dornic, plin de zel)
as red as a lobster (roşu ca racul)
as red as a beetroot (roşu ca sfecla, foarte roşu)
as white as a sheet/ chalk (alb ca varul)
as pale as death (palid ca moartea)
as hungry as a hawk/ wolf/ hunter (foarte flămând)
as alike as two drops of water (foarte asemănători)
as black as pitch/ jet/ coal/ ink (foarte negru)
as true as Gospel (foarte adevărat, literă de Evanghelie)

4. Double comparative
a) at the level of the simple sentence (in Romanian: COMPARATIV
PROGRESIV) expresses an intensified quality
more and more
less and less
better and better
worse and worse
more and more interesting
less and less loud
He is getting more and more impatient.
She grew wiser and wiser.
b) at the level of the complex sentence (in Romanian: PROPOZIŢIE
CIRCUMSTANŢIALĂ MODALĂ DE MĂSURĂ PROGRESIVĂ)
expresses an intensified quality/ action in relation to another quality/ action
THE + Comparative 1…, THE + Comparative 2 …
cu cât …, cu atât …
pe cât …, pe atât …
de ce …, de ce/ de aceea/ de aia …
din ce ..., din aceea …
pe măsură ce..., ... [COMPARATIV PROGRESIV] …
 The older he gets, the wiser he is.
(Cu cât îmbrâneşte, cu atât e mai înţelept.)
The sooner, the better.
(Cu cât mai curând, cu atât mai bine.)
The more you think about it, the less you’ll like it.
(Din ce te vei gândi mai mult la asta, din aceea o să-ţi placă
mai puţin.)
III. SUPERLATIVE
1. Relative
a) of Superiority
nicest
the best OF/ IN …
most interesting
It was the happiest day of my life.
He was the tallest in his class.
b) of Inferiority
nice
the least good OF/ IN…
interesting
She was the least delighted of all.
2. Absolute
nice
very good
interesting
most beautiful (foarte frumos)
* the most + Adj./ Adv. → Relative Superlative
most + Adj./Adv. → Absolute Superlative
greatly
highly
much
extremely
deeply
wonderfully
unbelievably
incredibly + Adjective/ Adverb
exceedingly
extremely
extraordinarily
surprisingly
amazingly
awfully
abominably
 frightfully
disgustingly
Some adjectives, especially Past Participle ones, cannot be used with
very, so the superlative morpheme is another adverb:
He is highly appreciated.
We are much concerned about the future of the company.
I am deeply honoured.
He was awfully sorry.
You are unbelievably egotistic.
She is well known for her research on cancer.
The idiomatic comparatives of equality (similes) also act as absolute
superlatives:
as old as the hills = very old
as cold as ice = very cold
as heavy as lead = very heavy
as dull as ditchwater = very dull, very boring
as clear as crystal = very clear, highly explicit