Comparative & Superlative

Adjective Comparative Superlative

One syllable Add –er Add –est
Strange Ex. Stronger The strongest
Great
Two syllable Drop –y and add –ier Drop –y add –iest
Tidy tidier The funniest
Funny
Two/three/four More… The most…
syllable More beautiful The most beautiful
Famous
Beautiful
Self-confidence

A few two-syllable adjectives (ex. Quiet) sometimes also use –er or –est
Ex. It’s quieter than any garden I’ve visited before.
Two-syllable adjectives ending in –ow, -er and –le can usually add –er or –
est. Ex. Cleverer, the narrowest
Most adjectives ending in a vowel an –b, -d, -g, -n, -p or –t double the last
letter before adding –er or –est. Ex. Bigger, the saddest
A few adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms:

Good Better Best

Bad Worse Worst
Far (lejos) Farther Farthest
Further Furthest

Comparative
 Can use it:
o Things are more:
Ex. Our prices are better than any of our rivals.
We have a more interesting range of music than you’ll see anywhere else.
o Things are less:
Ex. Cassettes usually aren’t as/so expensive as CDs.
The CDs in the sale are much less expensive than usual.
o Or things are equal:
 Ex. Classical music is as popular as rock music with our customers.

Adjective Position

 Adjectives usually go in front of the word they describe:

Ex. We visited an old house
 Adjectives can also follow some verbs (such as be, get, become, look, seem,
appear, sound, taste, smell, feel):
Ex. Everything seemed pleasant when we started.
The flowers smelt beautiful and the gardens looked wonderful.
There are many nouns which are used as adjectives:
A diamond ring, a library book, a seaside hotel, folk music, strawberry jam

Adjective Order

 We usually begin with adjectives which give an opinion or general impression:

Ex. A dangerous old car, a delicate oval tray, a valuable silver spoon
 Adjectives which give factual information usually follow the opinion/impression
adjective. They go in this order:

Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Purpos

e
An Enormous Old Red Car
A Small Oval French Mirror
An Antique Silver Soup Spoon

 Two Colour adjectives are separated by and:

Ex. A black and white photograph
 When we put more than one adjective after a verb, we use and to separate the last
one:
 Ex. Lord Byron was described as mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Adjectives ending in –
ing and -ed

 We use the –ed form to describe our feelings:

Ex. I’m tired. (=a description of how I feel)
 We use the –ing form to describe the things which makes us feel like
this(characteristic):
Ex. This work is tiring. (= a description of the work)
 Compare these sentences:

It’s a boring film. The visitors are bored.

(= there’s no action in it) (=they have nothing to do)

We had a relaxing holiday. Good driving instructors always

(= The atmosphere was restful) have a relaxed manner.
(=they don’t seem nervous)

That was a very satisfying meal. The airline has many satisfied
(=there was plenty to eat) customers.
(=the customers feel happy)