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The degree determiners much/many, little/few, and their comparative and superlative forms more, most, less/fewer, least/fewest all express quantification. Where two forms are given, the first is used with non-count nouns and the second with count nouns (although in colloquial English less and least are frequently also used with count nouns).
Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are rendered in an inflected or periphrastic way to indicate a comparative degree, property, quality, or quantity of a corresponding word, phrase, or clause.
b. The table is as wide as it is __ tall. Accounts that acknowledge comparative subdeletion posit a null measure expression in the position marked by the blank (x-many, x-much). This element serves to focus the expression in the same way that -er or more focuses its counterpart in the main clause.
The distinction between inflected and periphrastic forms is usually illustrated across distinct languages. However, comparative and superlative forms of adjectives (and adverbs) in English provide a straightforward illustration of the phenomenon. [7] For many speakers, both the simple and periphrastic forms in the following table are possible:
In the case of grande, which is the only apocopic adjective with regular comparative and superlative forms (más grande and el más grande, respectively), the comparative and superlative apocopate in the same manner as the positive: la más gran casa but la casa más grande, el más gran coche de los dos but el coche más grande de los dos, etc
Similarly, color terms marked as plural (the blues in his paintings) appear to be nouns while those marked as comparative (bluer) or superlative (bluest) appear to be adjectives. However, James D. McCawley notes a case in which color terms appear to have features of nouns and adjectives at the same time: a deep blue necktie .
The last image we have of Patrick Cagey is of his first moments as a free man. He has just walked out of a 30-day drug treatment center in Georgetown, Kentucky, dressed in gym clothes and carrying a Nike duffel bag. The moment reminds his father of Patrick’s graduation from college, and he takes a picture of his son with his cell phone.
Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as very and fairly , although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as completely .