Forming regular comparatives and superlatives

1. We use comparatives to compare two things or two people. (e.g She is taller than her husband.) 2. Superlatives are used, however, to compare to show the difference between more than two things or more than two people. (e.g Paris is the biggest city in France) 3. To form comparatives and superlatives you need to know the number of syllables in the adjective. Syllables are like "sound beats". For instance:

"find" contains one syllable, but "finding" contains two find and ing.

The rules to form comparatives and superlatives:

1. One syllable adjective ending in a silent 'e' nice

Comparative add 'r' nicer Superlative add 'st' nicest

2. One syllable adjective ending in one vowel and one consonant big

Comparative the consonant is doubled and 'er' is added bigger Superlative the consonant is doubled and 'est' is addedbiggest

3. One syllable adjective ending in more than one consonant or more than a vowel high, cheap

Comparative 'er' is added higher, cheaper Superlative 'est is added highest, cheapest

4. A two syllable adjective ending in 'y' happy

Comparative 'y' becomes 'i' and 'er' is added happier Superlative 'y' becomes 'i' and 'est' is added happiest

5. Tow syllable or more adjectives without 'y' at the end exciting

Comparative more + the adjective + than more exciting than Superlative more + the adjective + than the most exciting

Examples:

The Nile River is longer and more famous than the Thames. Egypt is much hotter than Sweden. Everest is the highest mountain in the world. This is one of the most exciting films I have ever seen.

Peter (6 years old)

Charley (5 months old)

Peter is older than Charley. Charley is younger than Peter. Irregular comparatives and superlatives Adjectives Comparatives Superlatives bad worse worst farthest furthest best least most most

far(distance) farther far(extent) good little many much further better less more more

How to use comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives Comparatives are used to compare two things or two people: Alan is taller than John. Superlatives Superlatives are used to compare more than two things or two people. Superlative sentences usually use 'the': Alan is the most intelligent.

Similarities
To express similarities use the following structure:

... as + adjective + as ...

Examples:

Mike is as intelligent as Nancy. Larry is as popular as Oprah.

Put the adjectives between brackets in the correct form 1. My brother has a (tidy) tidier 2. Australia is (big) bigger room than me.

than England.

3. I'm (good) better 4. She's got (little) less

now than yesterday. friends than you, but she doesn't care. language in the world. than Real Madrid yesterday. as dogs. restaurant downtown. person in your family?

5. He thinks Chinese is (difficult) the most difficult 6. Valencia played (bad) worse 8. Show me (good) the best 9. (hot) The hottest 7. Cats are not (intelligent) as intelligent

desert of all is the Sahara and it's in Africa.

10. Who is (talkative) the most talkative

11. Fill

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Fill in the gaps with the superlative form of the adjectives given. 24. 25. 1. It is the shop in town. (large) 26. 2. Monday is the day of the week. (bad) 27. 3. Ben was the person in his family. (noisy) 28. 4. Sam is the in the class. (popular) 29. 5. Which is the subject at school? (difficult) 30. 6. Jim is the player in the football team. (good) 31. 7. Elephants are the animals. (heavy) 32. 8. Let's pick the apple of the tree. (big) 33. 9. Mary is the girl in the class. (thin) 34. 10. That is the sofa in our house. (comfortable) 35. 36. Fill in the gaps with the comparative or the superlative form of the adjectives given. 37.

in the gaps with the comparative form of the adjectives given. 1. A rock is than a leaf. (heavy) 2. Our house is than yours. (big) 3. The princess is than the witch. (beautiful) 4. Tom is a student than Mary. (good) 5. Bicycles are than motorbikes. (safe) 6. July is than January. (hot) 7. A lion is than a cat. (dangerous) 8. Helen is than Mary. (happy) 9. Computers are than telephones. (expensive) 10. I think golf is than football. (boring)

38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47.

1. This armchair is than the old one. (comfortable) 2. Trains are than aeroplanes. (slow) 3. I bought the souvenir I could afford. (expensive) 4. In this classroom there are girls than boys. (many) 5. Ann is the child in the family. (young) 6. That TV set is the of all. (cheap) 7. You are here than there. (safe) 8. Fifi is than Kate. (pretty) 9. This is the film i have ever seen. (exciting) 10. Tim is than Peter. (talented)