A recent newscast was talking about the on-time schedules for the major airlines -

The story began by listing the high and low percentages of on-time flights and continued on enumerating the airlines with the best, and worst, records.   

It all sound logical ... unless you ask the questions "compared to what?".  To compare Hawaiian Airlines that operates in beautiful weather all year long to an airline like Delta operating in the northeast during the middle of winter seems a bit unfair. Unless all the criteria used to make the comparison are presented to the audience and the variables involved in the comparison are weight according.

Without doing so makes the announcement that Hawaiian Airlines was the number one on-time carrier a null comparison.  Hawaiian Airlines earned the right to be called the number one on-time carrier but you don't really know why. You just don't have all the facts.

As someone watching the newscast I had to ask myself "compared to what".  When the news caster puts out data comparing one airline to another and does not explain the variables used or credit given for the differences in size of the airline, number of daily flights, location of its hub, type of aircraft flown, weather encountered, etc then the comparison becomes null. 

I have been to Hawaii a number of times in December and the weather has always been beautiful and I was also born and raised in Michigan where most of the weather in December is not so nice.  I have also flown military aircraft around the world and can tell you that I was able to get in the air more often in Las Vegas, NV than Lakenheath, England just because of the weather.

As a consumer and aviator having experience both environments this then becomes my barometer for measuring the validly of the newscast.  In this case because they did not explain the data used I questioned the announcement and considered it a null comparison.   

Another example is grades in school.  Ones GPA is considered a true measurement of the effort put into school work.  However, when making a comparison you must take into consideration all the variables such as the school, the teacher, the subject, the grading system, etc.

Most of us I am sure, believe from our own experience that the following grading system is used universally in the US:

90-100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C

However, our local high school uses the following system

94-100 = A
84-93 = B
74-83 =C

Therefore when someone makes a comparison of GPA's from one location to another such as ours, they would have to include the difference in grading system to make a fair comparison and if they didn't then again it would be a null comparison.  Why, because we are not starting from the same place, they are two different grading systems making the comparison invalid.

In grammar the comparative is the "form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another." It is in fact, one of the two inflections, together with the superlative, an adjective or adverb can have.

The structure of a comparative consists normally of the positive form of the adjective or adverb, plus the suffix -er, or (especially in the case of longer words) the modifier "more" (or "less") before the adjective or adverb. The form is usually completed by "than" and the noun which is being compared, e.g. "he is taller than his father", or "the village is less picturesque than the town near by".

Those who pay heed to usage prescription frequently jar at the null comparative - one in which the starting point for comparison is not stated.

These comparisons are frequently found in advertising; for example, in assertions such as "Our burgers have more flavor!" (More flavor than what?), "Our picture tube is sharper!" (Sharper than what?), "50% more!" (50% more than what, exactly?), etc. Similar problems attend slogans such as "100% pure" (pure what, again?).

In some cases it is easy to infer what the missing element in a null comparative is; in other cases the speaker/writer may have been deliberately vague in this regard. 

Our airline and GPA example express the null comparison.  Yes, Hawaiian Airlines earned the right to be called the number one on-time carrier through their hard work and ones GPA is a measure of their effort. However, the comparisons must be made with all the facts to avoid the null comparison.

Be careful in your advertising not to fall into this trap.  Wise consumers will know to ask the question, "compared to what?."  If your advertising does not hold up to the question, they may decide to go elsewhere.

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