The basic, comparative, and superlative forms of 16 adjectives of three types—evaluative, potency, and activity—were rated as to intensity by 3 independent groups of approximately 115 college students. The mean ratings of the adjectives in the comparative and superlative forms when plotted against the mean ratings of the adjectives in the unmodified form followed a linear function. The results suggest that the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective vary the connotative meaning of that word in a multiplicative fashion, an average multiplying value of .97 for the comparative and 1.43 for the superlative, that is consistent over the three classes of adjectives.
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