Liceo Nuestra Señora María

Inmaculada del Bosque

English Department 4°grade

Comparatives
and superlatives
12th graders
Aims:
- To identify the use of comparative and
superlative adjectives.
- To show comprehension of oral and written
information.
 What is an adjective?
Let’s begin remembering what is a descriptive or quality adjective

● An adjective describes or modifies noun/s and pronoun/s in a sentence. It normally

indicates quality, size, shape, duration, feelings, contents, and more about a noun or
pronoun.
 

Examples:
● I have a fast car. (The word ‘fast’ is describing an attribute of the car)
● I am hungry. (The word ‘hungry’ is providing information about the subject)
Comparative
and Superlative
superlative Superlatives are used, however,
to show the difference between
Comparative more than two things or more
than two people.
We use comparatives to compare (e.g Paris is the biggest city in
two things or two people. France)
(e.g She is taller than her
husband.)

need
p erlatives you
nd su e
o m p aratives a  syllables in th
c e .
To form e number of th "sound beats"
th i k e
to know yllables
 are l
ti ve .  S
adjec
Comparative Adjectives
● Comparative adjectives are used to
compare differences between the two
objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster,
higher). They are used in sentences where
two nouns are compared, in this pattern:
Noun or subject + verb + comparative
adjective + than + noun (object).
Examples
• My house is larger than hers.
• This box is smaller than the one I lost.
• Your dog is faster than Jim's dog.
• The rock is higher than the roof.
• Jim and Jack are both fast, but Jack
is faster. ("than Jim" is understood)
Superlative Adjectives
● Superlative adjectives are used to describe
an object which is at the upper or lower
limit of a quality (the tallest, the smallest,
the fastest, the highest). They are used in
sentences where a subject is compared to a
group of objects.
Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative
adjective + noun (object).
Examples
• My house is the largest one in our
neighborhood.
• This is the smallest box I've ever seen.
• Your dog was the fastest of any dog in the
race.
• We all have trees in our yard. My tree is
the tallest. ("of all the trees" is understood)
Forming regular comparatives and superlatives
Forming regular
comparatives and ● One syllable adjectives

superlatives Add -er for the comparative and -est for

Forming comparatives and
the superlative.
If the adjective has a consonant + single
vowel + consonant spelling, the final
consonant must be doubled before
adding the ending.

superlatives is easy. The form

ADJECTIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
depends on the number of
syllables in the original tall taller tallest

adjective. fat fatter fattest

big bigger biggest
sad sadder saddest
Two syllables
For adjectives ending in y, change the y to
an i before adding the ending.

ADJECTIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

Adjectives with two syllables can form
happy happier happiest
the comparative either by adding -er or
by preceeding the adjective with more. simple simpler simplest
These adjectives form the superlative busy busier busiest
either by adding -est or by preceeding the
tangled more tangled most tangled
adjective with most. In many cases, both
forms are used, although one usage will
be more common than the other.
Three or more
syllables
ADJECTIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

Adjectives important more important most important

with three o
syllables fo r more expensive more expensive most expensive
rm the com
by putting m parative
ore in front
adjective, a of the
nd the supe
putting mos rlative by
t in front.
 Irregular comparatives and superlatives
These very common adjectives have completely irregular comparative and
superlative forms.
ADJECTI COMPARATIV SUPERLATIVE
VE E Examples
• Today is the worst day I've had in a long time.
good better best • Your painting is better than mine.
bad worse worst • This is the least expensive sweater in the store.
• This sweater is less expensive than that one.
little less least • His house is far from town, but her house is
much more most even farther.

far further/farther furthest/farthest

 As…as
We use as + adjective/adverb + as to make
comparisons when the things we are comparing
are equal in some way:

• The world’s biggest bull is as big as a small

elephant.
• The weather this summer is as bad as last
year.
• You have to unwrap it as carefully as you
can. It’s quite fragile.
 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.

• They didn’t play as well as they usually do.
TO
SU
M
UP
 E THE
Assignment
WRIT RATIVE OR
A
COMP ATIVE
L
SUPER F THE
O
FORM IVES IN
T S
ADJEC SENTENCE
SE
 THE
 
1. She was a very intelligent student. She was ______ (intelligent) girl in her class.
2. It´s a very old castle. Experts argued it is______ (old) in Britain.
3. I´m going to sleep on the sofa. The floor is  ______(uncomfortable) than it.
4. This new job is_______  (important) for me than the last I had.
5. Living in the countryside is ______ (healthy) than living in town.
6. These instructions were  ______(difficult) ones  I have ever read.
7. The blue car is ______(fast) the red car. 
8. Today it's _______ (not/windy) yesterday. 
Any doubts?

ur
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