Positive, Comparative & Superlative Degree

The degree of comparison deals with whether an adjective or adverb is offering any type of comparison. There are three degrees: positive, comparative, and superlative.

Positive Degree:
A positive degree does not have any comparison. It only tells us the presence of quality.
Examples:
A. She is a good girl.
B. He is an intelligent boy.
C. He drives slowly.
C. He walks slowly.
D. He did the job beautifully.

Comparative Degree:
A Comparative degree is used to compare two things to show which one has a lesser or greater degree of quality.
Examples:
A. Ishan is taller than Zaheer.
B. Fariya is more intelligent than Nasima.
C. He walks more slowly.
D. He did the job more beautifully.

Superlative degree
Comparing more than two things, a superlative degree deals with the least or the highest quality.
Examples:
A. Ishan is the tallest player on the Indian Cricket team.
B. Shakib-Al-Hasan is one of the best all-rounders in world cricket.
C. He has done the work most beautifully.
D. I want to play the next match most seriously.

The transformation from superlative to positive

Rule one: If you come across the phrase 'one of the' in superlative, you should follow the following structure to transform the superlative into a positive degree:
Very few + total part from the superlative + verb + as + positive form of the degree + as + subject
Examples:
Superlative: Virat Kohli is one of the best batsmen in the world.
Positive: Very few batsmen in the world are as good as Virat Kohli.
Superlative: She is one of the most beautiful girls in her class.
Positive: Very few girls in her class are as beautiful as she.

Rule two: If you don't see the phrase 'one of the' in a superlative degree, you should follow the following structure:
No other + total part from the superlative + verb + as + positive form of the degree + as + subject
Examples:
Superlative: He is the best boy in the class.
Positive: No other boy in the class is as good as he is.
Superlative: She is the most beautiful girl.
Positive: No other girl is as beautiful as she

Rule three: If you find the phrase 'of all, you should follow the structure given below:
No other + total part from the all + verb + as + positive form of the degree + as + subject
Superlative: He is the tallest of all boys.
Positive: No other boy is as tall as he.

The transformation from comparative to superlative:

Note: We should keep in mind that all types of comparative degrees cannot be transformed into a superlative degrees. For example, when a comparative degree draws a comparison between two objects, you cannot transform it into superlative.

John is more intelligent than Nick.

Rule one: If you come across the following structure of the comparative degree:
Subject + be verb + comparative form + than any other + object, you should follow the superlative structure shown below:
Subject + be verb + the + superlative form + of any + object.
Comparative: Dhaka is bigger than any other city in Bangladesh.
Superlative: Dhaka is the biggest city in Bangladesh.

Rule two: If you come across the following structure of the comparative degree:
Subject + be verb + comparative form + than all other + object, you should follow the following structure of superlative degree given below:
Subject + be verb + the + superlative form + of all+ object.
Comparative: John is wiser than all other students in the class.
Superlative:

Rule three: If you find the following structure of comparative degree: Subject + be verb + comparative form + than most other + object, the structure of superlative degree will be the following one:
Subject + verb + one of the + superlative form + object.
Comparative: Rohit is better than most other players.
Superlative: Rohit is one of the best players.

The transformation from Positive to Comparative

To transform a positive degree into a comparative degree, follow the rules given below:
Firstly, convert the object of a positive degree into a subject of comparative degree and a subject of a positive degree becomes the object of a comparative degree.
If a pronoun is used, transform the pronoun into its nominative case (I, we, he, she, they) and use it in a comparative degree as an object.
To preserve meaning, a positive degree that is in its affirmative form should be converted into a negative comparative degree.

Secondly, use a verb after the subject.

Thirdly, Replace as....as/so....as by the comparative degree of the adjective and add 'not

Fourthly, use 'than'

Finally, use the subject of the positive degree as an object of the comparative degree.
If you come across 'no/any other' and 'very few' phrase, replace them by 'than any other' and 'than many/most other' respectively.
Examples:
Positive: He is as good as I.
Comparative: I am not better than him.
Positive: No other student is as good as I.
Comparative: I am better than any other student.
Positive: Very few students are as good as I.
Comparative: I am better than many other students.