Compare to, with. The distinction between these constructions is fading in all but the most formal writing. In very precise writing, one compares something to something else in order to suggest a similarity between the things The clerk compares the customer to a dragon One compares something with something else to suggest that similarities between them might be found The clerk compared the customer with a dragon but found the customer was far less terrible than was thought.” Comparison. Expression of degrees of some quality is comparison. Grammatically, it involves the use of auxiliarywords like “more” or most or the comparative or superlative forms of words (faster, fastest. Words that indicate qualities of things or actions are adjectives or adverbs. Generally, words of one syllable form comparatives and superlatives by adding “- er” or “-est,” while longer words form comparatives and superlatives by adding the auxiliaries more and most longer, longest more pleasurable, most pleasurable Words of one syllable that end in e are made into comparatives by adding rand st simpler, simplest.” Some irregular comparatives follow di erent patterns “good, better, best.” It is important to learn these patterns and not to add comparative elements to such words. WRONG more better Note also bad, badly, ill (worse, worst well (better, best); many, much, some (more, most little (less, least—quantity; little, littler, littlest —size). Note that two things or people are compared, but more than two (even implicitly) require superlatives The second runner is slower than the rst one is The rst runner is the fastest in the heat WRONG The first runner is the fastest of the two.” Also be sure that all comparisons are complete The rst runner is faster than the second runner is WRONG The rst runner is faster Obviously, in the right
context of preceding statements, the last wrong example could be acceptable—the point is to make sure that your reader knows what you are comparing to what even if the words aren’t all therein the phrase, clause, or sentence that contains the comparative or superlative word. Comparative and superlative forms do not take a hyphen.
