Degree Conversion

An adjective/ an adverb has three degrees: positive, comparative & superlative. Today, we will learn how to convert one degree to another one. The change of degree comes under the transformation of sentences. When we transform sentences, we do not change their meaning. We just change their pattern.

At first, we would see how to change positive degree to comparative and vice versa.

A. Positive to Comparative

(a) John is as good as Jack. - Positive

                            ↓

    Jack is not better than John. - Comparative

(b) Shyam is not as tall as Rohan. - Positive

                            ↓

    Rohan is taller than Shyam. - Comparative

Steps: 

1. Interchange the positions of Subjects.
2. Change affirmative sentence to negative and vice versa.
3. Replace positive degree of adjective with comparative degree.
4. Remove 'as....as', and add 'than'.

B. Comparative to Positive

(a) Winter season is better than summer season. - Comparative

                                    ↓

    Summer season is not as good as winter season. - Positive

(b) He does not earn more than his friend. - Comparative

                                    ↓

    His friend earns as much as he does. - Positive

Steps: 

1. Interchange the positions of Subjects.
2. Change affirmative sentence to negative and vice versa.
3. Replace comparative degree of adjective with positive degree, and place it between 'as....as'.
4. Remove 'than'.

And now, we would see how to convert superlative into other degrees.

C. Superlative to Comparative and then to Positive

- Mumbai is the best city. - Superlative

                        ↓

- Mumbai is better than any other city/ all other cities. - Comparative

                        ↓

- No other city is as good as Mumbai. - Positive

Steps: 

1. To change superlative to comparative, change the degrees, remove 'the' before superlative degree, add 'than', and then use 'any other' + singular noun or 'all other' + plural noun.
2. To change comparative to positive, start the sentence with 'no other' + singular noun, replace comparative degree of adjective with positive degree, and place it between 'as....as', and bring the first subject at the end. Finally, remove 'than' and 'any other' + singular noun/ 'all other' + plural noun.

D. Superlative to Comparative and then to Positive, when the sentence is: one of the best/ largest etc.

- Mumbai is one of the best cities. - Superlative

                                    ↓

- Mumbai is better than most other cities. - Comparative

                                    ↓

- Very few cities are as good as Mumbai. - Positive

Steps: 

1. To change superlative to comparative, change the degrees, remove 'one of the', add 'than', and then use 'most other' + plural noun.
2. To change comparative to positive, start the sentence with 'very few' + plural noun, replace comparative degree of adjective with positive degree, and place it between 'as....as', and bring the first subject at the end. Finally, remove 'than' and 'most other'+ plural noun.