§2 More and most 197Set comparison with comparatives
Comparative grade is also used in set comparison when the set has just two
members:
[6] COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
a. Kim is the taller of the two. b. Kim is the tallest of the three.The comparative form taller is inadmissible in [b].
Prescriptive grammar noteUsage manuals commonly say that the superlative is incorrect when the set has only two
members (the tallest of the twin towers). However, the superlative is the default for set
comparison, and it's fairly common as an informal variant of the comparative with two
member sets. It is relatively unlikely when the two-member status of the set is explicitly
given in an of phrase, as in [6a], but sentences like Kim and Pa t were the only candidates,
and Kim was clearly the best are certainly grammatical.Non-inflectional marking of grade
As we noted in Ch. 6, § 1.1, comparative and superlative grade may be marked by a
separate word, more or most, rather than by inflection. Examples are given in [7]:
[7]
PLAIN
ii COMPARATIVE
III SUPERLATIVEADJECTIVE
useful
more useful
most usefu lADVERB
rashly
more rashly
most rashlyThe choice between the two ways of marking comparative and superlative grade -
by inflection or by a separate word - is discussed in Ch. 16, §5.
2 More and most
The two words more and most figure in both the tables given as [1] and
[7]: they can be either inflectional forms of the determinatives many and much or
they can be adverbs marking non-inflectional comparatives and superlatives of
adjectives and adverbs.(a) More as determinative
[8] PLAIN GRADE
a. He didn 't make many mistakes.
11 a. We don 't have much time.
111 a. I didn 't enjoy it much.COMPARATIVE GRADE
b. He made more mistakes than you did.
b. We have more time than we need.
b. I enjoyed it more than last time.The more of the [b] examples here is a determinative, the comparative counterpart
of plain many and much in the corresponding [a] examples. The determinative is