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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter presents and discusses the theoretical framework about degrees of comparison of adjective, which includes adjective and degrees of
comparison that consist of definition, kinds and the usage of degrees of comparison, and the form of adjective comparison.
A. The Degrees of Comparison of Adjective
Before we know about the degrees of comparison of adjective, it is better to discuss what adjective and comparison are. By knowing the literal meaning, it
will be easy for us to grasp the general understanding of degrees of comparison. Therefore, in this part, the writer will explain about the adjective and the degrees
of comparison.
1. Adjective
Adjective is a part of grammar, it includes in the part of speech which functioned to know the condition of a language.
Marcela Frank states that “the adjective is a modifier that has the grammatical property of comparison. It is often
identified by special derivational endings or by special adverbial modifies that precede it. Its most usual position is before the noun it modifies, but it fills other
positions as well”.
1
For example: That’s an interesting idea. My mother is beautiful.
In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified.
2
Acc ording to Paul Roberts, “adjective is a word that modifies a noun or
pronoun”.
3
Moreover, adjectives can be used before and after nouns.
4
1
Marcella Frank, Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc, 1972, p. 109.
2
http:en.Wikipedia.orgwikiAdjective
3
Paul Roberts, Understanding Grammar, New York: Harper Row Publishers, 1954, p. 91.
4
Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English language teaching, England: Longman Limited, 1998, p. 43.
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Based on the statements above, it can be concluded that an adjective is a word which has function to modify a noun or pronoun.
According to C. E. Eckersley ’s definition, “adjectives are words that tell
us what a thing is like: words that we add to a noun to make our meaning fuller or more exact, e.g. a good book, a fast train, six boys, my friends
”.
5
Martin Parrot states on his book Grammar for English Language Teacher that adjective is
often called „describing words’ because they provide information about the qualities of something described in a noun, a noun phrase, or clause.
6
For Examples: A noun
: An old film A noun phrase : An interesting experience for everyone
Clause : It is unbelievable that we have not seen each other for so long.
From the definitions above, the writer infers that adjective is a word used to describe or give more information about a noun or pronoun. In other words,
adjective is a describing word in a noun, a noun phrase, or clause. Adjectives in English have the same form for singular and plural,
masculine and feminine. The only exceptions are the demonstrative adjectives “thisthat”, which change to “thesethose” in the plural.
2. Degrees of Comparison
