Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable adjective:
She is the_______ of the two sisters.
A)tall
B)taller
C)tallest
D)tallish

Answer 1

Hint: An adjective has three degrees of comparison - Positive, Comparative, and Superlative. Superlative is the highest degree of comparison.

Complete step-by-step answer:

We know from the hint given to us that, an adjective has three degrees of comparison - Positive, Comparative, and Superlative.
A positive degree is an adjective in its original form. A comparative degree is used to compare two nouns with each other. It adds the suffix ‘-er’ to the adjective and is followed by ‘than’. A superlative degree is the highest degree of comparison, as already mentioned in the hint. It adds the suffix ‘-est’ to the adjective and is preceded by the article, ‘the’.
Hence, in order to be able to identify the suitable adjective, we must be able to identify the degrees of comparison of the words given to us in the options.
Tall is the positive degree form of the adjective, tall. However, we see that there is more than one noun in the given sentence, Hence, the option ‘a’ is incorrect.
Taller is the comparative degree form of the adjective, tall. However, we see that the sentence is not comparing two nouns with each other. We also observe that the blank is not followed by ‘than’ in the sentence. Hence, option ‘b’ is not the correct answer.
Tallest is the superlative degree form of the adjective, tall. We observe that it fits correctly to the context of the sentence, as it conveys the highest quality. We also observe that the blank is preceded by the article ‘the’. Thus, the option ‘c’ is the correct answer.
Tallish is an invalid word and hence, option ‘d’ is not the correct answer.

Note: It is important to rightly understand the context of the sentence and then choose the appropriate degree of the adjective.