Question

Compare the words darkness and darkest. How are they alike? How are they different?

Answer 1

Answer: The words "darkness" and "darkest" are alike because they share the same root. However, they are also different because they have different suffixes and they represent two different word classes.

Explanation: The words "darkness" and "darkest" are alike because they share the same root word: "dark". However, they have different suffixes. While "darkness" ends in the suffix "-ness", "darkest" ends in the suffix "-est". Moreover, these two suffixes indicate that "darkness" is a noun, while "darkest" is a superlative adjective. Therefore, "darkness" and "darkest" are similar but also different.  

Answer 2

They are alike because they are about the dark and they are different because darkness talks about how one place or more has darkness and darkest is about what is darker than something.