COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES THE BIGGEST BIGGER BIG

WHEN TO USE COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES Degrees of Adjectives Adjectives can express degrees of modification: Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richer than Gladys, and Sadie is the richest woman in town.

The degrees of comparison are known as the , the , and the . positive: tall comparative: taller superlative: the tallest We use the comparative for comparing 2 things and the superlative for comparing 3 or more things. positive comparative superlative

Sarah is girl in the class. Notice that the word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the precedes the superlative. Mary is Anna. Anna is Mary. Sarah is girl in the class. taller than shorter than the tallest

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE To make comparative and superlative forms of adjectives some rules must be followed: Rule 1 One syllable adjectives generally form the comparative by adding ER and the superlative by adding EST. POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE soft softer the softest cheap cheaper the cheapest sweet sweeter the sweetest thin thinner the thinnest

Note: if a one syllable adjective ends in a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter, the consonant letter is doubled and then the suffix is added. th th th th in _____ th in n er the th in est n

If an adjective ends in E, this is removed when adding ER or EST. wide _____ wid er e the wid est e

If an adjective ends in a consonant followed by y, y is replaced by i when adding ER and EST. _____ _____ the dr est i

Don’t forget to change the y to i Rule 2 Two syllable adjectives which end in Y usually form the comparative by adding ER and the superlative by adding EST Don’t forget to change the y to i luck est i y er prett est y i er the tid est y i er

Rule 3 To form the comparative and superlative of adjectives that are two syllables and more and not ending in a Y, add MORE and THE MOST in front of the positive adjective. the most boring careful useless modern worried more _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

the most dangerous difficult exciting ridiculous _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

However, a few 2 syllable adjectives can take either ER or EST or MORE or THE MOST. Here are some examples. more / the most er / est common narrow pleasant simple quiet

the furthest / the farthest EXCEPTIONS Irregular adjectives good bad fun far little much/many better worse more fun further/farther less more the best the worst the most fun the furthest / the farthest the least the most

Discussion Questions What is the scariest thing that ever happened to you? What is the most delicious thing you have ever eaten? What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done? What is the most disgusting thing you have ever smelled? What is the cutest animal in the world? Children in many African villages play on PlayPumps, what did you play with when you were a child? What do you drink more often, bottled water or tap water (water from the sink)? What are some ways that you and your family conserve water? What are some ways you could conserve more water? What is the biggest problem with Korea’s water supply? What do you think should be done about it?

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