COMPARATIVES and SUPERLATIVES

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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 added—biggest

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 syllables adjective ending in 'y' — happy

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

5. Two syllables 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
far(distance)	farther	farthest
far(extent)	further	furthest
good	better	best
little	less	least
many	more	most
much	more	most

How to use comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives	Superlatives
Comparatives are used to compare two things or two people: Alan is taller than John.	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.

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