Comparative VS Superlative

Old Eladio wrote:

She’s the politest of all these girls. (A lot of girls). She’s the politest of the two girls. Is "She’s the politer"more polite" sounds better to my native ears. of the two girls. (Two girls)" Old English? Or Do I have to use the comparative when I'm talking about two things or persons? Thank ou in advance, Eladio

You are right:  comparative for 2, superlative for more than 2.  However, as with "between" for 2 and "among" for more than 2, Americans often use the superlative for only 2 and "between" for more than 2.  Don't ask me why!

Hello Eladio

"A Comprehensive Grammar of the English language" (by R.Quirk et al) says as follows.
The superlative is often used for a comparison between two persons/things (like #1), but this is avoided in careful usage where the comparative is preferred (like #2).
     [1]  He is the youngest of the two brother.
     [2]  He is the younger of the two brother.

I googled "the politest of the two …" but there is not hit for it, although I got 15 hits for "the politer of the two".

The frequency of (careless) use of "the --st of the two" seems dependent on the adjective used. For example, googlily,
      The better/best of the two: 443,000/109,000
      The smaller/smallest of the two: 414,000/18,100
      The bigger/biggest of the two: 52,900/595

"The best of the two" is used in 15 pages against 204 pages for "the better of the two" in The New York Times' domain. The ratio is 54 to 310 in BBC's online pages. So there seems no great regional bias in the choice of "the best or better of the two".

Hope this helps you.

paco