comparison of adjectives

Comparison

Which do you think is bigger : a lion or a

tiger?

I don’t think a tiger is quite as big as a

lion!

Compare

Mark is 6 years old

Mark is young.young.

Heidi is 4 years old

Rick is 10 months old

Heidi is youngeryounger

than Mark.than Mark.

Rick is the

youngestyoungest..

Compare

This sack of potatoes

weighs 6 kg.

The suitcase is heavy.heavy.

This suitcase weighs 4 kg.

These two bags

weigh 8 kg. The sack

is heavierheavier than the than the suitcase.suitcase.

These two bags are the heaviest heaviest

of all.

There are There are threethree degrees of degrees of adjectives:adjectives: PositivePositive

ComparativeComparative SuperlativeSuperlative

The positive degree is used for

one one person or thing.

Paul is shortshort.Ann is thinthin.

The comparative degree is used

when comparing twotwo persons or

things

Paul is shorter shorter than Rickthan Rick.

Rebecca is thinner thinner than Annthan Ann.

The superlative degree is used

when we compare more thanmore than threethree

persons or things.

Mary is the shortest shortest girl in girl in classclass.

Rebecca is the thinnest thinnest

woman in woman in Malta.Malta.

You add ‘-er’‘-er’ for the comparative and ‘-est’ ‘-est’ for the for the

superlative of superlative of some adjectives. some adjectives.

cheap - cheaper -cheapesthard - harder -hardestweak - weaker -weakestold - older - oldest

If they end in ‘-e’‘-e’, you add ‘-r’‘-r’ and ‘-st’‘-st’

safe - safer - safestnice - nicer - nicestclose - closer - closest

Some doubledouble the

last letter.

big - bigger - biggestfat - fatter - fattestsad - sadder - saddest

Some change ‘y’‘y’

to ‘i’‘i’

heavy - heavier - heaviestfunny - funnier - funniestbusy - busier- busiest

To compare adjectives with

two or more two or more syllablessyllables use

MORE in the

Comparative

MOST in the

SuperlativeLESS in the

Comparative

LEAST in the

Superlative

EXAMPLES

beautiful - moremore beautiful - mostmost beautifulcareful - more careful - most carefulintelligent - more intelligent - most intelligentgenerous - more generous - most generous

dirty - lessless dirty -leastleast dirty dirty

The following

are irregular

good - better- bestmany - more - mostbad - worse - worstill - worse - worst

big

biggestbigger

Tokyo is ______________ than New York.biggerbigger

old

oldestolder

My sister is ______________ than me.oldeolderr

good

bestbetter

Louise is the __________ singer in Malta.

besbestt

friendly

friendliestfriendlier

Ruth is the ________ ________ girl in class.

friendliefriendliestst

pure

purestpurer

Only the ________ ________ ingredients are used in our cakes.

purespurestt

expensivest

most expensive

Joan chose the _____________ _____________ dress in the shop.

most most expensiveexpensive

more expensive

coarser

most coarse

The monk’s habit was made of the ________ ________

material I have ever seen.coarsescoarsestt

coarsest

You certainly look much ________ ________ than you did

yesterday.happiehappierrhappy

He is the ________ ________ person I know.

fattesfattestt

fat

Jane chose the ________ ________ slice of cake on the dish.

thinnethinnestst

thin

Andrea has Andrea has eveneven _______ _______..lesles

sslittle

Mark has little common sense.

Today he is Today he is eveneven ______ ______..worswors

eeill

Yesterday Andrew was ill.