Page 129 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

118 How to Write Effective Business English

Comparison

Comparison of adjectives

In English, adjectives can have three degrees: positive, comparative
and superlative.
The positive is just the usual form of the adjective; for example:
a happy child, a large book, a comfortable chair.
The comparative is used in comparing one thing or group with
another; for example: the shorter of the two brothers; ponies are
smaller than horses. If it is a short word, we normally form the
comparative by adding ‘-er’.
The superlative is used when comparing one thing or group
with more than one other; for example: she is the oldest of the
three sisters; that is the greatest suggestion yet. If it’s a short word,
we normally add ‘-est’ to the positive.
Adjectives of three syllables or more and most adjectives of two
syllables form their comparative by placing the word ‘more’ before
the adjective. They form the superlative by placing ‘most’ in front
of the adjective.
Some adjectives have quite different words for the comparative
or superlative. For example:
good, better, best;
many, more, most;
little, less, least.

A common mistake is where writers use the superlative where they
should be using the comparative. For example: ‘That is the best of
the two offers’ is, strictly speaking, wrong. It should be: ‘That is the
better of the two offers.’ There would have to be three or more of-
fers for ‘best’ to be correct. Similarly, instead of ‘She is the youngest
of the two employees’, the correct version would be ‘She is the
younger of the two employees’.