Comparatives and Superlatives

COMPARATIVES - It is human nature to compare things or people. You may have had conversations with friends comparing people, movies, songs, bands, clothes, etc... . You use comparatives to compare two things.

For example:

• Fast and Furious 6 is a better movie than Iron-Man 3.
• I am taller than my brother.
• When it comes to cooking, I am worse than my mother.

Comparatives are used when comparing two items. By definition, a comparative is describing a higher or lower degree.

Usually comparatives use "regular" forms of comparatives. For regular forms follow these rules:

1. Most adjectives add -er to make a comparative:

• Fast - Faster
• I run faster than my brother.
• Slow - Slower
• My brother runs slower than me/I.

2. For adjectives that end with a -y, change -y to -ier to make a comparative:

• Heavy - Heavier
• Tom is heavier than his brother.
• Easy - Easier
• Art class is easier than Math class.

3. For adjectives that end with a vowel-consonant combination, double the consonant and add -er.

• Fat - Fatter
• The elephant is fatter than the snake.
• Thin - Thinner
• The snake is thinner than the elephant.

4. For adjectives that have 2 or more syllables, then you would use more/less without modifying the adjective.

•  Beautiful - More beautiful / Less beautiful
• Stephanie is more beautiful than April.
• Expensive - More expensive / Less expensive
• An Aston Martin is more expensive than a Ford.
• EXCEPTION: The word fun is not changed. Instead, add more to the word (e.g. More fun - funner)
• Playing football is more fun than going to the desert

5. There are irregular verbs. For example:

• Good - Better
• My brother is a better tennis player than I am.
• Bad - Worse
• When it comes to cooking, I am worse than my mother.

SUPERLATIVES - Superlatives denotes the highest or lowest degree in anything and are used when comparing three or more items.

For example:

• Fast and Furious 6 is the best movie out of all the summer movies.
• I am the tallest in my class.
• When it comes to cooking, I am the worst in my family.

 When using superlatives, the article "THE" has to be used (See the above, blue-highlighted article).

1. Most adjectives add -est to make a superlative:

• Fast - The fastest
• I am the fastest person in my class.
• Slow - The slowest
• My brother, Tim, runs the slowest out of all my brothers.

2. For adjectives that end with a -y, change -y to -iest to make a superlative:

• Heavy - Heaviest
• Tom is the heaviest student in class.
• Easy - Easiest
• Art class is the easiest class in the entire school.

3. For adjectives that end with a vowel-consonant combination, double the consonant and add -est.

• Fat - Fattest
• The elephant is the fattest animal in the zoo.
• Thin - Thinnest
• The snake is the thinnest animal in the zoo.

4. For adjectives that have 2 or more syllables, then you would use the most/least without modifying the adjective.

•  Beautiful - The most beautiful
• Stephanie is the most beautiful woman in school.
• Expensive - The most expensive
• Aston Martin cars are the most expensive cars in the market.
• EXCEPTION: The word fun is not changed. Instead, add "The most" to the word (e.g. The most fun - The funnest)
• That was the most fun I had in years.

5. There are irregular verbs. For example:

• Good - Better - The best
• My brother is the best tennis player in the family.
• Bad - Worse - The worst
• When it comes to cooking, I am worst in my class.