COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES
Jul 14, 2015
COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES
WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?
Adjectives accompany nouns and give you information about people, animals or things.
EX: The red car. The big house. The cat is black.Red, big and black are adjectives.
They make our writing and speaking more descriptive and interesting.
WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?
Adjectives can be placed before or after the noun they are describing.
EX: The pretty girl came to our group. The girl in our group is pretty.
Adjectives never use plural (-s) and they don’t have a different masculine and feminine form.
EX: The green ball / The green ballsThe tall girl / The tall boy
ADJECTIVE ORDER
Adjectives can be used to describe: size (big), colour (black), shape (round), sound (quiet), feelings (hungry)…
But when we use several adjectives to describe a noun we should follow a fixed order: opinion + size + age + shape + colour + origin +
material + purpose
EX: A beautiful small new squared red French leather hand bag
We use the comparative adjectives to compare 2 things: people, objects, animals…
There are 3 different ways to compare things: - Superiority- Equality- Inferiority
COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVES
Form: less…(than)We use the same form with short and long adjectives
This chair is less comfortable than this armchair
COMPARATIVE OF INFERIORITY
Form: as…asWe use the same form with short and long adjectives
This elephant is as big as that elephant
COMPARATIVE OF EQUALITY
COMPARATIVE OF SUPERIORITYRules: One-syllable adjectives:- We normally add –er- Adjectives ending in –e add –r- Adjectives ending in vowel + consonant = double
the consonant + –er
The turtle is slower than the rabbit
COMPARATIVE OF SUPERIORITYRules: Two-syllable adjectives:- We normally add more before the adjective- When the adjective ends in –y, we drop the y
and add -ier
This man is happier than that man
COMPARATIVE OF SUPERIORITYRules: Three-syllable-or-more adjectives:- We add more before the adjective
The lion is more dangerous than the sheep
Comparatives are often used on their own if it is clear what or who is being compared. If you want to specify what you are comparing, you can do this using than followed by the noun you are comparing.
Mary is tallerMary is taller than Sarah After “than” we can also use an object
pronoun or a subject pronoun + a verb.She is older than me / than I am.
COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVES
We use the superlative adjectives to compare 3 or more things: people, objects, animals…
We use it to say which is the biggest, most beautiful… in a group
SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES
SUPERLATIVERules: One-syllable adjectives:- We normally add –est- Adjectives ending in –e add –st- Adjectives ending in vowel + consonant = double
the consonant + –est
The turtle is the slowest animal
SUPERLATIVERules: Two-syllable adjectives:- We normally add most before the adjective- When the adjective ends in –y, we drop the y
and add -iest
This man is the happiest in the world
SUPERLATIVERules: Three-syllable-or-more adjectives:- We add the most before the adjective
The lion is one of the most dangerous animals in the world
Superlatives are often used on their own if it is clear what or who is being compared. If you want to specify what you are comparing, you can do this with a noun or phrase beginning with in or of.
She is the youngest
She is the youngest child
She is the youngest of the children
She is the youngest in the class
We normally use the before a superlative.The last question is the most difficult.
SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES
IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES
AdjectiveAdjective ComparativeComparative SuperlativeSuperlative
GoodGood Better Better The bestThe best
Bad Bad WorseWorse The WorstThe Worst
Far Far FurtherFurther The furthestThe furthest
There are adjectives that don’t follow the norm.
We use comparative and superlative adverbs to compare actions:
He drives more slowly than me Some adverbs have the same form as an
adjective. They add –er / -est, e.g.
earlier, fastest, harder, highest… Many adverbs are an adjective + ly. They form
the comparative and superlative with more / most, e.g.
more easily, most carefully, more slowly…
COMPARISON OF ADVERBS
IRREGULAR FORMS
Some adverbs have irregular forms:
well badly far
better best worse worst further furthest
Let’s practise!Use the words given to compare the following
pictures.
FRUIT
FRIES
CHOCOLATEHEALTHYEXPENSIVESWEETTASTYFATTENING
DIFFICULTEASYBEAUTIFULFAST
SPAINCANADA
JAMAICA
COLDHOTLARGEPOPULARPOPULATED
IRONING
CLEANING
COOKING
BORINGUSEFULPOPULARBADTIME CONSUMING
BIKE
SUV
ELECTRIC CAR
CHEAPSLOWSMALLECO-FRIENDLYCOMFORTABLECONTAMINANT
AMUSINGPOPULARDANGEROUSHEALTHYEXPENSIVE
ICE SKATING
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
SNOWBOARDING
TOKYO
CORDOBA
MAUI
COSMOPOLITANNOISYPOLLUTED QUIETCROWDED