Dr. Grammar was busy working in his language lab when there was a loud banging on his door.
“Who can that be?” he wondered, “It sounds urgent.”
When he opened the door, he saw two of the king’s guards standing there.
“You have to come with us at once”, said one of them in a loud voice.
Dr. G sighed. “Give me a moment to grab my hat”, he said.
Soon he was seated in the royal carriage, on the way to the palace.
“I wonder what the King wants now”, muttered Dr. G. “He always comes up with some new idea or way to get the words to interact with each other. He loves to complicate things!”
Dr Grammar At The Palace
“Ah, there you are, my man!” the King boomed at Dr. G who tried very hard not to wince as he took his hat off and bowed. “You’re just the person I need. I heard all about your new tonics ‘Vitamin ER’ and ‘Vitamin More’. Good work my man! Good work!” and the King thumped poor Dr. G so heartily on his back that he almost stumbled.
(Do you remember Vitamin ER and Vitamin More? If you don’t you can read about it here)
“What is it that you require, Your Highness?” Dr. G asked.
“Come and sit here”, said the King, pointing to a chair near his throne, “and I will tell you all about it.”
Once they were seated, the King said, “I am the King! Don’t you agree that I should be better than everybody else? And that everything that I have should also be better than others?”
“Er…Um..” Dr. G tried to speak but the king went on. “My palace should be bigger than any other building in the land. My horse should be faster than any other horse. My daughter should be more intelligent than any other child and I should be more handsome than anyone else. Can you do something about this?”
“Hmmm…I think I can”, said Dr. G, a glimmer of an idea beginning to form in his head. “But I will need to go back to my lab to work on it.”
Back at the lab, Dr. G took a little of Vitamin Er in a bowl and added double the amount of Vitamin More. The colour of the mixture began to change and it frothed and fumed and settled into a beautiful ruby red.
“I will call this Vitamin Most”, said Dr. G to himself.
Then he took one measure of Vitamin More and two measures of Vitamin Er and mixed them in a fresh bowl. Once again the mixture bubbled and frothed. But this time it turned a royal purple.
“This will be Vitamin Est”, said Dr. G excitedly. He could not wait to go to the palace and try it on everyone and everything there.
Dr. G gave a little “Vitamin est” to the King’s horse. It immediately became the fastest horse in the kingdom.
The watch tower became the tallest tower. The princess had the sweetest smile in the kingdom and people declared that the palace clown was the funniest clown they had ever seen.
The royal army had the bravest soldiers and the court had the wisest ministers. The jewels in the crown were the costliest that money could buy.
The palace staff was the busiest in the land as they bustled to and fro.
Dr. G sprinkled a bit of “Vitamin most” in the gardens and soon visitors came from far and wide to see what they all agreed were the most attractive gardens they had ever seen.
The King too became the most courageous and the most popular person in the kingdom.
That night, Dr. G had to write down his report. He was most meticulous about this. Can you help him fill up the form?
| Positive degree | Comparative degree | Superlative degree |
| tall | taller | the tallest |
| rich | ||
| small | ||
| sweet | ||
| warm | ||
| light | ||
| bright | ||
| bold | ||
| clever | ||
| fast | ||
| great | ||
| Words that doubled the last consonant | ||
| big | bigger | the biggest |
| fat | ||
| hot | ||
| dim |
That is great!
Now let’s do some more
| Positive degree | Comparative degree | Superlative degree |
| Words that end in ‘y’ (remember y turns to i ) | ||
| dry | drier | the driest |
| costly | ||
| busy | ||
| lazy | ||
| These words do not like more than one e | ||
| brave | braver | the bravest |
| wise | ||
| nice | ||
These are the words that had Vitamin more and Vitamin Most:
| Positive degree | Comparative degree | Superlative degree |
| intelligent | More intelligent | the most intelligent |
| interesting | ||
| popular | ||
| attractive | ||
| meticulous | ||
| careful | ||
| dangerous | ||
| splendid | ||
| courageous | ||
| difficult | ||
And these are the rebels, The Exceptions:
| Positive degree | Comparative degree | Superlative degree |
| good | better | the best |
| bad | worse | the worst |
| little | less | the least |
| ill | worse | the worst |
| much | more | the most |
| many | More | the most |
*Did you notice how if you give the words a dose of Vitamin est and Vitamin more, you have to add “the” before them?
As Dr. Grammar shut his computer for the night, he wondered what new adventures the next day would bring.
