Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition by Kellogg, Brainerd, Reed, Alonzo, 1899-

5. Give and illustrate the several ways of distinguishing the genders.--Lesson 117.

6. How is the possessive case formed?--Lesson 122.

7. Give and illustrate the principles which guide in the use of the possessive forms.--Lesson 128.

+Scheme for the Pronoun.+

PRONOUN. +Uses+.--Same as those of the Noun. +Classes+. Personal (85, 86, 87). Relative (85, 86, 87). Interrogative (85). Adjective (85, 87). +Modifications+.--Same as those of the Noun (112, 117, 118, 119, 124, 125, 142).

Questions on the Pronoun.

1. Define the pronoun and its classes, and give the lists.--Lesson 85.

2. Decline the several pronouns.--Lesson 124.

3. Give and illustrate the principles which guide in the use of the different pronouns.--Lessons 86, 87.

4. Give and illustrate the principles which guide in the use of the number forms, the gender forms, and the case forms.--Lessons 118, 125, 142.

* * * * *

LESSON 127.

COMPARISON.

+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.+

+The _Comparative Degree_ expresses a greater or a less degree of the quality.

+The _Superlative Degree_ expresses the greatest or the least degree of the quality+.

+RULE.--Adjectives are regularly compared by adding _er_ to the positive to form the comparative, and _est_ to the positive to form the superlative+.

RULES FOR SPELLING.