+Introductory Hints.+—That apple is sweet, that other is sweeter, but this one is the sweetest. The adjective sweet, expressing a quality of the three apples, is, as you see, inflected by adding er and est.
Adjectives, then, have one modification, and this is marked by form, or inflection. This modification is called +Comparison+, because it is used when things are compared with one another in respect to some quality common to them all, but possessed by them in different degrees. The form of the adjective which expresses the simple quality, as sweet, is of the +Positive Degree+; that which expresses the quality in a greater or a less degree, as sweeter, less sweet, is of the +Comparative Degree+; and that which expresses the quality in the greatest or the least degree, as sweetest, least sweet, is of the +Superlative Degree+.
But even the positive implies a comparison; we should not say, This apple is sweet, unless this particular fruit had more of the quality than ordinary apples possess.
Notice, too, that the adjective in the comparative and superlative degrees always expresses the quality relatively. When we say, This apple is sweeter than that, or, This apple is the sweetest of the three, we do not mean that any one of the apples is very sweet, but only that one apple is sweeter than the other, or the sweetest of those compared.
The several degrees of the quality expressed by the adjective may be increased or diminished by adverbs modifying the adjective. We can say very, exceedingly, rather, or somewhat sweet; far, still, or much, sweeter; by far or much the sweetest.
Some adverbs, as well as adjectives, are compared.
Adjectives have one modification; viz., +Comparison+. [Footnote: Two adjectives, this and that, have number forms—this, these; that, those. In Anglo-Saxon and Latin, adjectives have forms to indicate gender, number, and case.]
+DEFINITIONS+.
+Comparison is a modification of the adjective (or the adverb) to express the relative degree of the quality in the things compared.+ [Footnote: Different degrees of quantity, also, may sometimes be expressed by comparison.]
+The Positive Degree expresses the simple quality.+