1. COMPARATIVE
and SUPERLATIVE
ADJECTIVES
THE BIGGEST
BIGGER
BIG

2. WHEN TO USE COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES
Degrees of Adjectives
Adjectives can express degrees of modification:
Amal is a rich woman, but Thani is richer than Amal, and Sarah is the richest woman in town.

3. Sarah is girl in the class.
Notice that the word than with the comparative and the word the with the superlative.
Mary is Anna.
Anna is Mary.
Sarah is girl in the class.
taller than
shorter than
the tallest

4. The degrees of comparison are known as the , the , and the .
Adjective: tall comparative: taller superlative: the tallest
Actually, only the comparative and superlative show degrees.
We use the comparative for comparing 2 things and the superlative for comparing 3 or more things.
positive
comparative
superlative

5. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
One-syllable adjectives add –er for the comparative and –est for the superlative.
small
nice
warm
hot
smaller the smallest
nicer the nicest
warmer the warmest
hotter the hottest
* We use more and most before words ending in –ed, e.g. bored > more bored

6. Note: if a one syllable adjective ends in a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter, the consonant letter is doubled and then the suffix is added. th th th th in
_____ th in n er
the th in
est n

7. If an adjective ends in E, add R or ST.
wide
_____
wid er e
the
wid
est e

8. If an adjective ends in a consonant followed by y, y is replaced by i when adding ER and EST.
_____
_____
the dr
est i

9. Don’t forget to change the y to i
Rule 2
Two syllable adjectives which end in Y usually form the comparative by adding ER and the superlative by adding EST
Don’t forget to change the y to i
luck
est i y er
prett
est y i er
the
tid
est y i er

10. Rule 3
To form the comparative and superlative of adjectives that are two syllables and more and not ending in a Y, add MORE and THE MOST in front of the positive adjective.
the most
boring
careful
useless
modern
worried
more
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____

11. However, a few 2 syllable adjectives can take either ER or EST or MORE or THE MOST. Here are some examples.
more / the most
er / est
common
narrow
pleasant
useless
simple
quiet

12. the furthest / the farthest
EXCEPTIONS
Irregular adjectives
good
bad
far
little
much/many
better
worse
further/farther
less
more
the best
the worst
the furthest / the farthest
the least
the most

13. COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE PATTERNS I
We use as … as to say that things are equal or unequal.
Our house is as big as yours.
It isn’t as cold as yesterday.
We often use a phrase with than after a comparison.
The steak is more expensive than the fish.
After “than” we use an object pronoun or a subject pronoun + a verb.
She is older than me / than I am.

14. FRUIT FRIES CHOCOLATE Healthy Expensive Sweet Tasty Fattening
Fruit is healthier than fries
Fruit is the healthiest
FRIES
CHOCOLATE
Healthy
Expensive
Sweet
Tasty
Fattening

15. ICE SKATING FOOTBALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL SNOWBOARDING
Amusing
Popular
Dangerous
Fun
Interesting
ICE SKATING
FOOTBALL
AMERICAN
FOOTBALL
SNOWBOARDING

16. Difficult
Easy
Beautiful
Fast
Vocabulary