- Positive - The English Language
The Explanation
We all know that the Adjective change in form when they show comparison. A Positive Degree of an adjective is represented when there is no comparison. It is also known as the base form or absolute degree is the basic, un-compared form of an adjective as opposed to either the comparative or superlative degree.
In the English language, there are three degrees of comparison:
The Positive Degree- which offers no comparison
e.g.: big, good, rich, handsome etc
The Comparative Degree- which shows the greater or lesser degree.
e.g.: bigger, prettier, better
The Superlative Degree- which shows the greatest or least degree
e.g.: richest, prettiest, etc
In this post, we are going to explore the Positive Degree of Adjective in more detail.
How to form an Adjective with positive degree
When we speak about only one person or thing, we use the Positive degree.
e.g.: in the phrase "the big house," the adjective big is in the positive degree.
Jim is a tall student.
This dress is beautiful.
Each sentence mentioned above talks about only one noun and hence uses the positive degree of Adjective.
Rules for ‘how’ and ‘where’ to use positive degree of Adjectives-
Below are some of the rules and uses of Positive Degree of Adjectives
It is used to describe a simple quality of the noun.
How: Comparison of similarities - adjective as + adjective + as …like
e.g.:
When we are talking about two people or we say that John is intelligent, Paul is intelligent.
Using comparison of similarities, we can say ‘John is as intelligent as Paul’.
It is used for negative comparison when we tell about the dissimilarities of two things, people or their qualities.
e.g.:
She is not as tall as her father
It is used for Concealed Comparisons when we don’t compare things in a direct way but in an indirect way using not all that + Adjective
e.g.:
Its price is not all that high = (The price is not as high as believed)
How to compare two things using positive Degree of Adjectives
In some cases, we can also compare two things in positive degree as below-
Using Gerund
e.g.:
Writing is as easy as singing
Walking is as difficult as running
With Infinitive
e.g.:
It is not as easy to say as you believe.
Positive degree of Adjective is also used with some following words like ‘had better’, ‘had rather’, ‘and had sooner’
e.g.:
I had better work than sit idle
