We use comparatives and superlatives to say how people or things are different. We use a comparative adjective to express how two people or things are different, and we use a superlative adjective to show how one person or thing is different to all the others of its kind. For example, Show Mick is taller than Jack. Mick is the tallest person in the family. Now let’s focus on the details of how to create each of these adjectives. ComparativesComparative adjectives enable us to express the difference between two people or things. In order to say that someone or something has a superior quality, size, or characteristic, you need to use ‘more’. Instead, when you want to say that someone or something has an inferior quality, size, or characteristic, you must use ‘less’. MoreThe way we make a comparative with ‘more’ depends on the length of the word. There are three different cases: 1) More for long adjectives. If an adjective has two or more syllables, we add the word ‘more’ in front to create the comparative form. For example: This hotel is more expensive than the last hotel we stayed at. Reading is more interesting than watching television. The sea here is more beautiful than the sea in my country. 2) -er for short adjectives If an adjective has one syllable, or two syllables with -y as the second syllable, we add -er to create the comparative. For example: Your house is bigger than mine. Taking the bus is cheaper than taking the car. This box is heavier than that one. As you can see in the first example, if an adjective ends in a vowel and consonant (e.g. big) you need to double the final consonant. For example, bigger, fatter, thinner. 3) Irregular comparatives As is often the case in English, there are some adjectives that are irregular and don’t follow these rules. Here are the irregular comparatives: good – better bad – worse far – further (U.K. English) farther (US English) fun – fun For example, Your cooking is better than my cooking. Arriving late is worse than arriving early. Their house is further from here than our house. Going out is more fun than staying at home. Using ‘than’When you refer to the two people/things you are comparing, you need to use ‘than’. For example, Living in the city is better than living in the country. But if it’s clear what you’re referring to, it’s also possible to make a comparison without repeating one of the things, and in this case you don’t need to use ‘than’. For example, Living in the city is more expensive. LessWe use ‘less’ to say that someone or something has an inferior quality, size or characteristic. It’s easy to use because you simply put ‘less’ in front of any adjective. For example: Walking is less tiring than running. Australia is less populated than China. Hamburgers are less healthy than vegetables. SuperlativesWe use superlatives to compare one person or thing to several others. For example, Paris is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. This means that I’ve seen several cities and I consider Paris as the number one in terms of being beautiful. In a similar way to comparatives, there are two ways to use superlatives. When you want to say that one person or thing is superior to all others in that group, you need to use ‘the most’. When you want to say that one person or thing is inferior to all others in that group, you need to use ‘the least’. The mostSimilarly to comparatives, we use ‘the most’ in different ways according to the length of the adjectives: 1) The most for long adjectives. If an adjective has two or more syllables, we add ‘the most’ in front to create the superlative form. For example: She’s the most determined candidate we’ve seen today. It’s the most difficult part of my job. This is the most successful year the company’s ever had. 2) -est for short adjectives If an adjective has one syllable, or two syllables with -y as the second syllable, we add -est to create the superlative. For example: It’s the shortest route to the stadium. What’s the longest flight you’ve ever taken? He’s the nicest guy I’ve met here. As with comparatives, if an adjective ends in a vowel and consonant (e.g. sad) you need to double the final consonant. For example, saddest, fittest, hottest. 3) Irregular superlatives The same adjectives that are irregular for comparatives are also irregular for the superlative form: good – best bad – worst far – furthest (U.K. English) farthest (US English) fun – fun Here are some examples: Is this the best place to eat in town? Yesterday’s performance was my worst ever. Alaska is the furthest state from Florida. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time! The leastWe use ‘the least’ to say that someone or something has an inferior quality, size or characteristic compared to all others of its type. Simply put ‘the least’ in front of any adjective. For example: Cleaning the floor is my least favorite type of housework. The least difficult tense in English is the present simple. He’s the least active person I know. He’s very lazy. As … asThere is another way to compare people and things in English which is using as + adjective + as. We use this form to say that things are or aren’t the same. For example: I’m as tall as my brother. (We are the same height.) This book isn’t as good as that one. (The quality of the books is not the same.) Are you as hungry as I am? (Are we hungry in the same way?) Using comparatives, superlatives and as + as.Here are some examples of each of these forms with the same adjective: ‘Nice’ My new neighbors are nicer than the last ones. The previous neighbors were less nice. Mr Berry is the nicest neighbor I have. Mr Lewis isn’t as nice as Mr Berry. ‘Challenging’ Her new job is more challenging than her last job. Her last job was less challenging. It’s the most challenging job she’s ever had. Her last job wasn’t as challenging as this one. Learning how to use comparatives and superlatives will make a big difference to your level of conversation. In the courses at Wall Street English you learn these forms of English grammar through listening and speaking and in both personal and business contexts. Now that you’ve read about how they work, try this fun quiz to practice. What you will learn:IntroAre you having problems understanding the comparative and superlative in English? Don’t worry – even native speakers make mistakes with these! In this study guide, we will explain each type of adjective and give you a list of the 35 most common. You will improve your understanding with our native examples and can test your knowledge with the exercises at the end of the guide. Ready? Let’s get cracking! Comparative adjectivesWhat are comparative adjectives?Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (e.g. larger, smaller, faster, higher). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared: Noun + verb + comparative adjective+ than + noun. E.g. The cat ran faster than the dog. How do I make comparative adjectives?The way we form comparative adjectives depends on the adjective! For one-syllable adjectives, we add ‘-er’ to the end to make the comparative form (e.g. old – older, hard – harder). With short vowels, we double the final consonant before adding the ‘-er’ (e.g. big – bigger, hot – hotter). With adjectives ending in ‘-y’, we add an ‘i’ before the ‘-er’ (e.g. dry – drier, happy – happier). For two-syllable (or longer) adjectives, we keep the adjective the same but add ‘more’ in front (e.g. boring – more boring). Most of these adjectives end in ‘-ly’, for example: carefully, efficiently, recently, etc. There are also some irregular forms that don’t follow these rules. You will have to learn these separately! For example, the comparative form of far is further, the comparative form of bad is worse and of good is better. Examples of comparative adjectivesTrains are more expensive than buses in London. Hannah is taller than Jane. Fruit is healthier than chocolate. Max is better at maths than David, but is worse at maths than Sarah. With some one-syllable adjectives we double the final consonant before adding –er or -est. For example: big – bigger – biggest, fat – fatter – fattest, thin – thinner – thinnest. If a one-syllable adjective ends in -e, then we simply add –r or –st. For example: fine – finer – finest. This brings us to the topic of ‘superlatives’. Superlative adjectivesWhat are superlative adjectives?Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object that is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (e.g. the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest). In other words, they describe extremes. They are used in sentences to compare three or more nouns: Noun + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun. How do I make superlative adjectives?To form superlatives, you need to follow similar rules to those above for making comparative adjectives. For one-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending in ‘-y’, we add –est to the end of the adjective (e.g. old – oldest). With short vowels, we double the final consonant before adding the –est (e.g. big – biggest), and with adjectives ending in ‘-y’ we add an ‘i’ before the –er (e.g. friendly – friendliest). For two-syllable (or longer) adjectives, we keep the adjective the same but add ‘the most’ in front (e.g. boring – the most boring). The irregular forms in comparative adjectives are the same for superlative adjectives. So the superlative form of far is (the) furthest, bad becomes the worst and good is the best. Examples of superlative adjectivesTrains are the most expensive transport in London. Hannah is the tallest person in her family. Grapefruit is the healthiest fruit. Max is the best at maths in his class, but is the worst at science. Table: How to form comparative and superlative adjectives
A-Z list of 35 comparative and superlative adjectives with examples
Note that some native English speakers also use the forms ‘more clever’ and ‘most clever’. These forms appear to follow the rules more closely, but they are less popular when it comes to real usage in the UK.
Quantifiers for comparativesWe can use quantifiers with comparative adjectives to show if there is a big or small difference between the two things we are comparing. For a big difference use…A lot Much A great deal Far Significantly Considerably Way (informal) A little A bit (informal) A little bit Slightly Marginally Some comparative quantifiers are more informal than others so it’s important to know when to use each one. You will find a lot, way and a bit are very common in spoken English. However, you generally wouldn’t write way or use it in more formal contexts. In these formal situations, you would be more likely to use a great deal, considerablyor marginally. We don’t use quantifiers with superlative adjectives but there are common phrases that are used with superlatives. These are useful to know as they are very commonly used by native speakers and you will likely hear them a lot! One of the…Aramaic is one of the oldest languages in the world. The second/third… By far the… Exercises: Comparative vs. superlative adjectivesFill in the correct form of the words in brackets (comparative or superlative).
Task BRewrite these sentences to give them the opposite meaning by using the adjectives in brackets.
Task CMatch the pictures with the correct sentences below.
Answers
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