COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES THE BIGGEST BIGGER BIG

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

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

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

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES One-syllable adjectives add –er for the comparative and –est for the superlative. small nice warm hot smaller the smallest nicer the nicest warmer the warmest hotter the hottest * We use more and most before words ending in –ed, e.g. bored > more bored

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, add R or ST. 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 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

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 useless simple quiet

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

COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE PATTERNS I We use as … as to say that things are equal or unequal. Our house is as big as yours. It isn’t as cold as yesterday. We often use a phrase with than after a comparison. The steak is more expensive than the fish. After “than” we use an object pronoun or a subject pronoun + a verb. She is older than me / than I am.

FRUIT FRIES CHOCOLATE Healthy Expensive Sweet Tasty Fattening Fruit is healthier than fries Fruit is the healthiest FRIES CHOCOLATE Healthy Expensive Sweet Tasty Fattening

ICE SKATING FOOTBALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL SNOWBOARDING Amusing Popular Dangerous Fun Interesting ICE SKATING FOOTBALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL SNOWBOARDING

Difficult Easy Beautiful Fast Vocabulary