| Acknowledgements | 第1-6页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-8页 |
| Contents | 第8-10页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第10-18页 |
| ·Significance of the Study | 第10-11页 |
| ·Literature Review | 第11-16页 |
| ·Structure of the Thesis | 第16-17页 |
| ·Research Methodology | 第17-18页 |
| Chapter Two Diachronic Research on English Adjective Comparison | 第18-32页 |
| ·Comparative Formation during the Development of the English Language | 第18-31页 |
| ·The Origin of English Analytic Comparatives during the Old English Period (449-1100) | 第18-20页 |
| ·English Adjective Comparison in the Middle English Period (1100-1500) | 第20-22页 |
| ·English Comparative Formation in Modern and Present-day English (1500-2008): A Corpus-based Study | 第22-31页 |
| ·Summary | 第31-32页 |
| Chapter Three Synchronic Research on English Adjective Comparison | 第32-45页 |
| ·Adjective Comparison in Present-day English | 第32-34页 |
| ·Comparatives of Some Monosyllabic Adjectives in Present-day English | 第34-36页 |
| ·Comparatives of Some Disyllabic Adjectives in Present-day English | 第36-38页 |
| ·Comparatives of Some Non-comparable Adjectives in Present-day English | 第38-41页 |
| ·Comparatives of Negative Un-prefixed Trisyllabic Adjectives in Present-day English | 第41-43页 |
| ·Summary | 第43-45页 |
| Chapter Four Analysis of the Choice between Synthetic and Analytic Forms in English Comparative Formation | 第45-61页 |
| ·Previous Analyses of the Comparative Alternation | 第45-50页 |
| ·Mondorf's More-Support | 第45-48页 |
| ·Other Scholars' Analyses | 第48-50页 |
| ·Data Analyses - A Corpus-based Study | 第50-60页 |
| ·Morpho-Phonological Factors | 第50-54页 |
| ·Syntactic Factors: Position of the Adjective | 第54-56页 |
| ·Origin of the Adjective | 第56-60页 |
| ·Summary | 第60-61页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第61-64页 |
| Bibliography | 第64-68页 |
| Appendix Ⅰ Comparative Formation of Adjectives with Different Final Segments | 第68-69页 |
| Appendix Ⅱ Sample Sentences of Prouder and More Proud | 第69-72页 |
| Appendix Ⅲ Sample Sentences for the Five Investigated –ly Group of Adjectives | 第72-74页 |
