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The Comparative
And
Superlative Of
Adjectives
What is an adjective
There are two types of
adjectives
Regular adjectives

Irregular adjectives
Regular adjectives are divided into
two groups

Short
adjectives
Contain
One syllable

Long
adjectives
Contain two or
more
syllables
What is a syllable
A syllable is the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)
that is created when pronouncing a word.
The number of times that you hear the sound of
a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) is equal to the number of
syllables the word has.
big

fast

One syllable

One syllable

One vowel sound /i/

One vowel sound /æ/

modern
/Ↄ/

/ə /

Two syllables

happy
/æ/

/i/

Two syllables

important horrible

/Ↄ/ /ə / /Ↄ/ /ə / /ə /
/i/
Three
syllables

Three
Making
Comparisonsof
There are two forms
comparisons
The
comparative

The
superlative
There are three forms of
the comparative
The
The
The
comparativ comparativ comparative
of
e of
e of
superiority
inferiority
equality
Less….. than

as………
as

...er
than

more …
than
The Comparative of Superiority
Is used to compare between two
items: people, animals, places or
objects to say that one item has a
LARGER amount of quality than the
other
The
Comparativ
e of Short
Adjectives
For 1-syllable
adjectives,
JUST add “er” to the
Joe
Tom
end. oe is a smart
J
boy.
BUT
Tom is smarter
than Joe.
Adjective

Comparative

Clean

Cleaner

New

Newer

Cheap

Cheaper

Tall

Taller
If the 1-syllable adjective ends with
the letter “e,”
JUST add “r” to the end.
Examples: nice------ nicer / wise----wiser

Algeria is
larger than
Egypt.
If the 1-syllable adjective
has a C-V-C pattern,
consonant vowel consonant
Double the consonant

and add

“er.” 

July is hotter than
June.
For adjectives with two
syllables, ending in – y, DROP
the “y” and add “ier.”
pretty--Who is
prettier

prettier
Aishwaria
Rai or
Katrina
Adjective

Comparative

Happy

Happier

Funny

Funnier

Dirty

Dirtier

Healthy

Healthier
The
Comparative of
Long
Adjectives
For adjectives that are 2 or more
syllables,
use “ more ” + the adjective to make
the comparative form.
Example: Adjective--comfortable
How many syllables m (p)fə(rtək ə that it
ə
contain? 1 b2 l 3 4

Travelling by plane is more
comfortable than travelling by
Adjective

Comparative

Valauble

more valuable

Beautiful

more beautiful

Expensive

more expensive

Active

more active

Famous

more famous
The
Comparative of
Irregular
Adjectives
Irregular
Comparatives
Good is an irregular adjective. In
the comparative form, it changes
into BETTER

Sarah’s
grades are
better than
Mark’s
Adjectives

Comparatives

Good
Bad
Far
Old
Much

Better
Worse
Farther / further
Older/ elder
More
( uncountable
nouns)

Many

More (countable
nouns)
The
Superlative of
Adjectives
The superlative is used to compare one
item to more than two items: (people,
animals, places or objects) to say that one
item has the largest amount of quality than
all the other items.
The
Superlative of
Short
Adjectives
For a one-syllable word, add the suffix –est to the
word
Long-the longest / Sweet- the sweetest
Cool- the coolest / Rich- the richest
Smart- the smartest

Often times it is necessary to double
the final consonant.
Big – the biggest
Hot- the hottest
Fat- the fattest
If the one syllable word ends with an “e”
you only need to add an Fine- the finest
Nice- the nicest
Simple- the simplest

st .

If a two-syllable word ends with a “y”
then change the “y” into “i” and add
-est.
Funny- the funniest
Happy-the happiest
The
Superlative of
Long
Adjectives
Words that contain two or three syllables are
preceded by the word most
Beautiful- the most beautiful
Famous- the most famous
Dangerous- the most dangerous

The peacock is the most beautiful
bird in the world.
The Superlative
of Irregular
Adjectives
Messi is
Ronaldo is
better
better
than them
than
all.
Ribery.
He is the
best.

Ribery is a
good
footballer.
There are some adjectives that
have irregular forms meaning that
the superlative can’t be formed by
adding the suffix -est or by using
the word most .
Good----------- the best
Bad----------------the worst
Far-----the farthest / the furthest
Old-----the oldest / the eldest

Comparative and superlative of adjectives