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165
polite
profound
complete
- politer
- profounder
- completer
- politest
- profoundest
- completest
2) in which the second syllable is the syllabic [1]:
able
noble
- abler
- nobler
- ablest
- noblest
3) with adjectives in -er, -y, -some, -ow:,
tender
happy
handsome
narrow
- tenderer
- happier
- handsomer
- narrower
- tenderest
- happiest
- handsomest
- narrowest
Synthetic inflection, however, is often found in other disyllabic adjectives:
You are the horridest man I have ever seen.
Polysyllabic adjectives form their degrees of comparison analytically, by means of more and most:
difficult - more difficult - most difficult
curious - more curious - most curious
Note 1:
Even monosyllabic adjectives used in postposition or predicatively have a greater tendency towards analytic
forms of comparison than when used attributively.
Compare:
He is a man more clever th you.
He is a cleverer man.
The superlative is sometimes used without the when the aqjective denotes a very high degree of quality and
no comparison with other objects is implied.
The path is steepest here.
She is happiest at home.
Note 2:
This morphological pattern (long - longer - longest) is not confined to adjectives, there are also a number of
adverbs which may have the same endings, i.e. soon - sooner - soonest, hard - harder - hardest.
Superlatives are often used alone before an of-phrase:
the best of friends, the youngest of the family.
Several adjectives form their degrees of comparison by means of (suppletive forms) irregularly:
good/well
bad
little
many
- better
- worse
- less
- more
- best
- worst
- least
- most