COMPARATIVE

Referring to 2 people, places or things

1st – SUPERIORITY
 Short adjectives = 1 SYLLABLE
Adjective+ -ER+ than
eg: Brazil is bigger than Japan.

IRREGULAR:
Good – better
Bad – worse
Far – farther

 Long adjectives= 2 or MORE SYLABLES

more +adj+ than
Eg: Okra is more delicious than pizza

EXCEPTION
For 2 syllables adjectives ended in –Y, drop “y” and add –ier.
eg: Happy -happier
Funny – funnier
Ugly – uglier
Lucky-luckier
Early - Earlier etc

2nd – EQUALITY
 Long or short adjectives
as + adj + as
eg: Obama is as rich as George Bush.

3rd – INFERIORITY
 Long or short adjectives
less + adj + than
eg: Coke is less caloric than milk shake.
 PRACTICING
1) Fill the blanks using the comparative of equality, superiority or inferiority.

a) The Amazon River is ______________ the São Francisco River. (long)

b) Buenos Aires is _________________ Rio de Janeiro. (cold)
c) The Empire State Building is _______________ the Eiffel Tower. (tall)
d) Curitiba is __________________ São Paulo. (populous)
e) A Fiat car is _______________ a Ferrari one. (expensive)
f) Planes are ________________ buses. (safe)
g) High heels are ________________ sneakers. (comfortable)
h) Beer is ____________________ wine in Brazil. (popular)
i) Superman is _______________ Batman. (strong)
j) Americans are ________________ Africans. (rich)
k) Are sandwiches __________________ pizza? (good)
l) The subway in New York is ________________ the one in
Washington DC . (bad)
m) Ted and Jeff are 17 years old. Karen is 20 years old. Jeff is
____________ Ted. Karen isn’t _____________ Jeff. (old/young)
 SUPERLATIVE
Referring to more than 2 people, places or things

1st – SUPERIORITY
 Short adjectives = 1 SYLLABLE
The + adj+ est
eg: This is the biggest pizza, I’ve ever eaten.

IRREGULAR:
Good – best
Bad – worst
Far – farther

 Long adjectives= 2 or MORE SYLABLES

The + most +adj
eg: This is the most wonderful book, I’ve ever read

EXCEPTION
For 2 syllables adjectives ended in –Y, drop “y” and add –iest.
Happy -happiest
Funny – funniest
Guilty – guiltiest
Early - Earliest etc

2nd – INFERIORITY
 Long or short adjectives
The + least + adj
eg: Titanic is the least interesting movie, I’ve ever watched.
 PRACTICING
1) Fill in the blanks with the Superlative form from of the adjectives in
parentheses.
a) The Ganges is _______________________ river in India. (important)
b) The Vatican is __________________ country in the world. (small)
c) Flamenco is ______________________ dance in Spain. (popular)
d) New York is ____________________ city in the United States (large)
e) Mercury is _____________________ planet to the sun. (near)
f) A Rolls Royce is one of ________________ cars in the world.(expensive)
g) The Eiffel Tower is __________________ monument in Paris. (famous)
h) February is _____________________ month of the year. (short)

WORD BANK

Bad – poor – uncomfortable – inexpensive (cheap) – weak – unpolluted -

unattractive – small - dirty – slow – young – ugly – light – new – dumb –
thin/slim - short - Boring – unpopular – unhealthy – safe - disgusting

For more adjectives see Extra vocabulary book list

2) Find the opposites:

a) Clean =
b) Polluted =
c) Strong =
d) Comfortable =
e) Delicious =
f) Fast =
g) Heavy =
h) Fat =
i) Old =
j) Expensive =
k) Rich =
l) Good =
m)Good looking =
 n) Popular =
o) Tall=
p) Interesting =
q) Intelligent =
r) Attractive =
s) Violent =
t) Big =
u) Healthy =
v) Old =

INTENSIFIERS
They can be used on Comparative or Superlative sentences, in order to
emphasize the adjective.
COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
SUPERIORITY / EQUALITY SUPERIORITY / INFERIORITY
INFERIORITY
By far

Way Nearly as Way

Much Quite as

A lot Just as

Slightly

A little

A bit