Literary notes about superlative (AI summary)
In literature, the term "superlative" is used both as a precise grammatical category and as a powerful rhetorical device. Grammatically, it designates the highest degree of quality—formed by specific modifications such as adding an -est ending or adopting an entirely different stem—all to distinguish a quality in its utmost form [1][2]. Beyond the rules of syntax, authors employ the superlative to magnify characteristics or actions; a character’s wit may be described as uniquely "superlative," or an object might be highlighted as possessing superlative excellence or beauty [3][4]. In addition, the term can serve as an intensifier, emphasizing a quality so strongly that it transcends regular comparison, whether in the context of detailed grammatical discussion or vivid narrative description [5][6][7].
- An adjective may have three degrees, positive , comparative and superlative.
— from A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman Reed - The superlative degree is formed by adding est to the positive degree.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - ' Johnson's own superlative powers of wit set him above any risk of such uneasiness.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson by James Boswell - He is extolled by Tacitus, B. 14, for his superlative wisdom, beyond which nothing is known of him.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - Some positives have a comparative or superlative, or both, from a wholly different stem: such are, bonus , good , melior , optimus ( 351 ).
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane - Such , 64 ; such ... as , 67 . Superlative of emphasis, 88 .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - The superlative is sometimes used merely for emphasis, without implying any definite comparison: as—“My dearest Kate!”
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge
