Comparative and superlative adjectives.

Comparative adjectives
We use comparative adjectives to show change or make comparisons:

This chair is taller.

Claire is smarter.
This book is longer.

We use than when we want to compare one thing with another:

My brother is 7 years older than me.

Alex is faster than Dennis.
Flying is quicker than driving.

When we want to talk about how something or someone changes, we use and
plus two comparatives:

He got angrier and angrier.

He is getting bolder and bolder.
My mother is getting funnier and funnier.

We often use the with comparative adjectives to show that one thing depends on
another:
The angrier you get, the madder he will be.
The calmer it got, the scarier it became.

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Practice
Choose the correct answer for each sentence.

a) will become more and more c) is older than me

expensive d) the more and more interesting

b) happier

1) My brother is 39 and I am 33 so my brother____________.

2) The more I read the book _________________I found it.

3) As soon as the pandemic is over, flying ________________

4) I’m feeling ______________today.

Superlative adjectives

We use the superlative adjectives to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a
group of things. We use the superlative when we are talking about three or more
things.

We use the with superlative adjectives:

It was the largest box I had ever seen!
My house is the smallest in my neighborhood.
My cat ran the fastest out of all the cats.

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Practice

1) My garden is __________ garden in the whole neighborhood.

a. the smallest

b. smallest

c. more smallest

2) I am _________ one in my family.

a. youngest

b. younger

c. the youngest

3) Who is ___________ one in your family?

a. the tallest

b. tallest

c. the most tallest

4) He came in last at the race; he was the _________.

a. slow

b. slower

c. slowest

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How to make comparative and superlative adjectives:
We usually add –er (for comparatives) or -est (for superlatives) to one-syllable
adjectives.

Adjective Comparative Superlative

tall taller tallest
smart smarter smartest
short shorter shortest

If an adjective ends in -e all we have to do is add -r or -st.

nice nicer nicest

large larger largest

If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant:

big bigger biggest

fit fitter fittest

If an adjective ends in a consonant and –y, we change –y to –i and add – er.

happy happier happiest

silly sillier silliest

For most two syllable adjectives, we use more (comparative) or most (for
superlative) before the adjective:

peaceful more peaceful most peaceful

careful more careful most careful
thoughtful more thoughtful most thoughtful

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 Exceptions
Some adjectives are irregular:

good bad far little much

Comparative better worse farther/further less more

Superlative best worst farthest / furthest least most

There are a few adjectives that we have to use 'more' or 'most' with, even though
they only have one syllable. We CAN'T add 'er' or 'est'.

1) fun → more fun / most fun

2) real → more real / most real
3) right → more right / most right
4) wrong → more wrong / most wrong

However, with these common two-syllable adjectives, you can either add – er /–r
and –est /–st or use more and most:
1) common 6) polite

2) narrow 7) handsome

3) cruel 8) simple

4) pleasant 9) likely

5) gentle 10) stupid

He is certainly handsomer than his brother.

His brother is handsome, but he is more handsome.

She is one of the gentlest people I have ever met.

She is the most gentle person I have ever met.

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Practice
Choose whether the adjectives are comparative and superlative and
complete the sentence.

1) My brother thinks he’s ______________________(intelligent) than me,

and my mother agrees!
2) Avengers is probably the _______________________(bad) film I have
ever seen.
3) Which is the ______________________(hot) month in Spain?
4) Do you think the movie versions of books are ______________(good)
than the books themselves?
5) Who is the _________________________(powerful) president in the
world?
6) Are the students ______________(old) than the teacher?

Similarities
To express similarities, use the following structure: as + adjective + as

Mike is as intelligent as Nancy.

Larry is as popular as Oprah.
His work is not as good as his colleagues.

We use as + adjective/adverb + as to make comparisons when the things we

are comparing are equal in some way:

My cousin is as tall as I am now.

This winter is as cold as last year.
You have to unwrap it as quickly as you can. I am in a hurry!

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 Not as … as
We use not as … as to make comparisons between things which aren’t equal:
It’s not as heavy as I thought it would be, actually.
Rory hasn’t grown as tall as Tommy yet.
She’s not singing as loudly as she can.
They didn’t play as well as they usually do.

We can modify not as … as by using not quite as or not nearly as:

The fight was not quite as dangerous as they said.

The new girl is not nearly as intelligent as the other ones.

We can also use not so … as. Not so … as is less common than not as … as:

This grammar lesson is easy but not so easy as the one before.

As … as + possibility
We often use expressions of possibility or ability after as … as:
Can you come as soon as possible?
Go to as many places as you can.
We got here as fast as we could.

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Practice
Comparison of adjectives with as …..as

1) The blue car is __________ (fast) the red car.

2) Peter is __________ (not/tall) Fred.

3) The violin is __________ (not / low) the cello.

4) This copy is __________ (bad) the other one.

5) Oliver is __________ (optimistic) Peter.

6) The tomato soup was __________ (delicious) the mushroom soup.