Degrees of comparison of German adjectives. |
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Description: Steigerung is a German grammar application, concerning the degrees of comparison (comparative and superlative) of adjectives.
The program actually is a grammar trainer (exercise generator): For a random adjective (taken from a list with ca 1,700 items), the user has to find the comparative
and/or the superlative. The application considers all possible cases: irregular adjectives, umlauts, adjectives in -el, -er and mute -e, adjectives that end in -d,
-t, -s, -ß, -x or -z or that end in a double vowel. With the evaluation of the user's answer, details about the formation of the degrees of comparison of this specific
adjectives are displayed. The major problem that I encountered, when writing this application, was to define which adjectives actually have degrees of comparison and which
have not. The application considers the so-called hyperlative as normal superlative and also considers that colors or other adjectives, that not really have degrees
of comparison, have a comparative and a superlative. Thus, for example, for adjectives like "tot" (dead), "blau" (blue), or "erstklassig" (first class), the degrees
of comparison have to be entered in order to be evaluated as a correct answer. There are, however, adjectives that are always considered not to have degrees of
comparison. Examples are: "fertig" (finished), "rosa" (pink), "anwesend" (present). The application takes the adjective website of
verbformen.de as reference for adjectives without degrees of comparison. I have no idea,
what really makes the difference and, for me, there are lots of cases that are difficult not to call illogical. Examples: "riesig" (huge) has and "gigantisch" (gigantic)
has not degrees of comparison; the same for "sonnig" (sunny) vs. "windig" (windy), or "schwul" (gay) vs. "lesbisch" (lesbian). To avoid all problems with the evaluation
of such cases, you may want to check "Nur steigerbare Adjektive" (only adjectives with degrees of comparison) in the "Einstellungen" (Settings) menu.
Free Pascal features: UTF8 strings and UTF8 functions (LazUTF8 unit). String grids.
Screenshot:
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