English Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs

ADJECTIVE Old Tall Slow Fast Fat thin COMPARATIVE (THAN) Older Taller Slower Faster Fatter thinner more famous more pleasant less famous less pleasant busier prettier funnier cleverer more clever gentler more gentle friendlier more friendly more important more fascinating less important less fascinating better worse SUPERLATIVE the oldest the tallest the slowest the fastest the fattest the thinnest the most famous the most pleasant the least famous the least pleasant the busiest the prettiest the funniest the cleverest the most clever the gentlest the most gentle the friendliest the most friendly the most important the most fascinating the least important the least fascinating the best the worst EXPLANATION

ONE-SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES

For most one-syllable adjectives, -er and est are added.

famous pleasant
TWO-SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES

For most two-syllable adjectives, more and most are used.

busy pretty funny

-er/-est are used with twosyllable adjectives that end in y. The y is changed to i.

clever gentle friendly

Some two-syllable adjectives use er/-est or more/most: able, angry, clever, common, cruel, friendly, gentle, handsome, narrow, pleasant, polite, quiet, simple, sour.

ADJECTIVES WITH THREE OR MORE SYLLABLES

important fascinating

More and most are used with long adjectives.

IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES

good bad

Good and bad have irregular comparative and superlative forms. More and most are used with adverbs that end in ly. Exception: early is both an adjective and an adverb. Forms: earlier, earliest.

-LY ADVERBS

carefully slowly

more carefully more slowly

the most carefully the most slowly

English Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs

ONE-SYLLABLE ADVERBS

fast hard

faster harder

the fastest the hardest

The er and est forms are used with one-syllable adverbs.

IRREGULAR ADVERBS

well badly far

better worse farther/further

the best the worst the farthest/furthest

/ noun [ countable ] a word or group of words that describes or adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence, such as "slowly" in "He ran slowly," "very" in "It's very hot," or "naturally" in "Naturally, we want you to come."
ENG. LANG. ARTS

ad verb /

/ noun [ countable ] word that describes a noun or PRONOUN, such as "black" in the sentence "She wore a black hat," or "happy" in the sentence "I'll try to make you happy."
ENG. LANG. ARTS a WORD CHOICE

ad jec tive /

bored, boring; interested in, interesting; frightened of, frightening etc. With pairs of adjectives like this, the one ending in -ed describes the person who has the feeling, and the one ending in -ing describes the thing or person that gives them that feeling: Two weeks later, I got bored with the job. | The job got really boring. | Judy is really interested in art. | Judy thinks art is really interesting. | Thousands are frightened of losing their jobs. | Losing your job is a frightening experience.

Exercise. Give the COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE forms of the following adjectives and adverbs. COMPARATIVE
1. high 2. careful 3. slow 4. slowly 5. active 6. funny 7. wet 8. sweet 9. late 10. thin 11. clean 12. serious 13. good 14. bad 15. clear 16. clearly

SUPERLATIVE

English Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs

17. happy 18. confusing 19. courageous 20. common 21. friendly 22. red 23. wild 24. dangerous 1. When a one-syllable adjective ends in one vowel + a consonant: double the consonant and add er/-est: hot, hotter, hottest. 2. When an adjective ends in two vowels + a consonant, DO NOT double the consonant: cool, cooler, coolest. 3. When an adjective ends in e, DO NOT double the consonant: wide, wider, widest.