The book identifies four respects of gradation.
1. Awlawiyyah: one instance has a stronger claim or priority to the shared predicate.
2. Awwaliyyah: the meaning applies with logical or explanatory precedence in one case.
3. Shiddah: a difference in intensity, such as the strength of whiteness.
4. Ziyādah: a difference described in terms of increase or greater measure.
Their interpretations can be debated in classical philosophy. Merely finding any greater-or-lesser property is not sufficient: the difference must bear on the shared meaning actually under discussion.