Use the positive degree of comparison in the following sentence.
The boy is _ _ _ _ _ (clever) the other boys.
a)Clever
b)As clever as
c)Cleverer than
d)The cleverest among

Hint: Positive degree is the primary form of an adjective or adverb. It is the basic form of the word without comparison. (adjective/ adverb)

Complete step by step answer:
The positive degree form of the word clever is clever itself but, in the given sentence we are supposed to make a comparison using the positive degree of the word with other boys. Therefore, the answer would be option a, ‘as clever as’ as it uses the positive degree of comparison of the adjective and makes sense. ‘as clever as’ here is used to make a comparison of one boy with the rest of the boys.

Option a is a positive degree adjective but is incorrect as the sentence ‘the boy is clever the other boys, makes no sense.

Option c, cleverer than used the comparative degree of comparison or the second degree, and option d ‘the cleverest among’ uses the superlative degree of comparison. Therefore, option c and d are incorrect.


Note: Do not confuse between Clever and as clever as. Both are positive degrees but the sentence will not make sense with only the word ‘clever’.