Degree: degree of comparison
In English, Degree is a feature of adjectives and some adverbs.
Pos: positive, first degree
This is the base form that merely states a quality of something,
without comparing it to qualities of others. Note that although this
degree is traditionally called “positive”, negative properties can be
compared, too. All words with PTB tags JJ have this feature.
Examples
- young woman
Additionally, the following adverbs with PTB tag RB also have this feature:
- hard, fast, late, long, high, easy, early, far, soon, low, close, well, badly, little
Cmp: comparative, second degree
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of another
object. All words with PTB tags JJR are marked with this
feature.
Examples
- The man is younger than me.
The following adverbs with PTB tag RBR also have this feature:
- more, harder, faster, later, longer, higher, easier, earlier, further, farther, sooner, lower, closer, better, worse, less, quicker, slower
Sup: superlative, third degree
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of all other
objects within a set. All words with PTB tags JJS are marked with this
feature.
Examples
- This is the youngest woman in our team.
The following adverbs with PTB tag RBS also have this feature:
- most, hardest, fastest, latest, longest, highest, easiest, earliest, furthest, farthest, soonest, lowest, closest, best, worst, least, quickest, slowest
Note that most adverbs in English don’t have a Degree feature because their second and third degree are constructed periphrastically using the adverbs more and most, e.g. more quietly, most seriously.
Degree in other languages: [af] [bej] [bg] [cs] [cy] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [ga] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [it] [ka] [ky] [la] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [quc] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj]