Degrees of comparison of adjectives

Hello, guys! Welcome to Grammar Zone! My name’s Harry Jones.

My best friends Allan and Kate will help me make our lessons useful and enjoyable.

In this lesson we’re going to talk about adjectives and their degrees of comparison.

Adjectives are the words which help us describe different objects.

There are three degrees of comparison of adjectives: the positive, the comparative and the superlative.

The positive degree is a simple form of the adjective.

There are four different kinds of adjectives in its positive degree:

one-syllable adjectives: kind / loud / red

two-syllable adjectives: happy / dirty / shallow

adjectives of more than two syllables: talkative / exciting / intelligent

and finally – irregular adjectives: good / bad / much / many.

Let’s start with one- and two-syllable adjectives.

Harry: The lynx is a wild cat. It is bigger and faster than a domestic cat.

The cheetah is the fastest animal on land. It can reach a speed of 60 meters per hour.

The tiger is heavier than the cheetah. Actually, it’s the biggest and heaviest animal in the cat family.

And my cat, Phil, is the laziest cat in the world!

The words bigger, faster and heavier are called comparatives.

The comparative degree is used to compare two people or things.

The biggest, the fastest and the heaviest are the superlatives.

The superlative degree is used when more than two people or things are compared.

To form the comparative degree of one-syllables, we add –(e)r to the adjective.

To form the comparative degree of two-syllables ending in –ly, -y, -w, we also add –(e)r to the adjective.

To form the superlative of one- and two-syllables, we use the + adjective + -est:

Here are some more examples of one- and two-syllable adjectives:

tall – taller – the tallest

short – shorter – the shortest

warm – warmer – the warmest

white – whiter – the whitest

nice – nicer – the nicest

hot – hotter – the hottest

wet – wetter – the wettest

dry – drier – the driest

ugly – uglier – the ugliest

busy – busier – the busiest

pretty – prettier – the prettiest

So it’s time to focus on the spelling of the adjectives.

When a word ends in e, it is deleted when adding –er or –est.

Pay attention to the words hot and wet. When a word ends in one vowel + one consonant, double the final consonant and add –er or –est.

When a word ends in y, we change -y to i and add –er or –est.

Now let’s have a look at long and irregular adjectives.

Allan (walking his bulldog): Hello, guys!

Harry: Hi, Allan!

Kate: What a good dog! You know, I want to get a pet, too.

Harry: How about a cat? Cats are the best pets.

Allan: A cat? No, Katie! A dog is better than a cat.

Harry: First of all, a cat is more beautiful than a dog! Well, YOUR dog, anyway!

Allan: What? My dog is the most beautiful dog in the world!

Kate: Sorry, guys! Actually, I think, I want a hamster!

Look at the highlighted words!

Beautiful.

The word beautiful is too long to add suffixes to form the comparative or the superlative forms.

To form the comparative degree of two or more syllables, use: more/less + adjective (than).

To form the superlative of two or more syllables, we use: (the) most + adjective.

beautiful – more beautiful – the most beautiful

Some other examples are:

famous – more famous (than) – the most famous (of/in)

comfortable – more comfortable – the most comfortable (of/in)

expensive – more expensive – the most expensive (of/in)

We often use of or in after a superlative. We use in with places:

I’m the tallest of all.

He’s the shortest in his class.

There are some adjectives which have irregular comparatives and superlatives. They are:

good – better – the best

bad – worse – the worst

much/many/a lot of – more – the most

little – less – the least

far – farther or further – the farthest or the furthest

Remember that the comparatives and superlatives of the word far are quite similar, and may be interchangeable in many cases.

But if we speak about physical distance, we normally use farther or further:

Your house is two miles further/farther from here than mine.

And if we want to speak about more, additional, we’d better use further:

There is no further information about your flight.

The word old also has two forms of comparatives and superlatives:

old – older – the oldest and

old – elder – the eldest (We use these forms to talk about relatives only. Elder isn’t used with than!)

For example:

He is older than me.

My elder sister studies at the university.

He is the eldest child in the family.

He is the oldest student in the group.

Certain adjectives form their comparative and the superlative in both ways, either by adding –er/-est to the positive form or with more/most.

Some of these are: clever, common, cruel, friendly, gentle, narrow, pleasant, polite, shallow, safe, simple, stupid, quiet:

wise – wiser – the wisest                    ALSO wise – more wise – the most wise

safe – safer – the safest                     safe – more safe – the most safe

quiet – quieter – the quietest              quiet – more quiet – the most quiet

Now it’s time to practice the rule.

Today I’d like you to do the geography quiz!

Complete the questions and choose the correct answer.

1. Which mountains are higher?

a) The Andes

b) The Rockies

Correct answer is b)

2. Which country has a longer coastline?

a) Russia

b) Canada

Correct answer is b)

3. Which river is shorter?

a) the Amazon

b) the Nile

Correct answer is a)

4. Which is the deepest ocean?

a) The Pacific

b) The Atlantic

c) The Indian

Correct answer is a)

5. Which is the highest waterfall in the world?

a) Niagara Falls

b) Angel Falls

Correct answer is b)

6. Which of these countries is the biggest in size?

a) The USA

b) Brazil

c) Australia

Correct answer is a)

7. Which is the most common language in the world?

a) English

b) Chinese

c) Spanish

Correct answer is b)

That`s all for today.

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