The present work contributes to a better understanding of the English system of degree by means of a study of a number of aspects in the evolution of adjective comparison that have so far either been considered controversial or not been accounted for at all. As will be shown, the diachronic aspects analysed will also have synchronic implications. Furthermore, unlike previous synchronic as well as diachronic accounts of adjective comparison, this monograph does not concentrate only on the `standard' comparative strategies (i.e. inflectional and periphrastic forms), but also deals with double periphrastic comparatives, thus providing an analysis of the whole range of comparative structures in English.