Comparatives and Superlatives

Comparative and superlative

adjectives
• Adjective • Comparative • Superlative

Old Older The oldest

Big Bigger The biggest

Large Larger The largest

Friendly Friendlier The friendliest

 RULE/COMPARATIVES
• One –syllable adjectives and two-syllable
adjectives ending in –y.
Add -er Older
With short vowels the final consonant doubles. Bigger
Adjectives ending in –e, add –r THAN Larger

Adjectives ending in –y, -y changes to -i Friendlier

Don’t forget the comparative particle THAN

 RULE/SUPERLATIVES
• One –syllable adjectives and two-syllable
adjectives ending in –y.
Add -est Oldest
With short vowels the final consonant doubles. Biggest
Adjectives ending in –e, add –st THE Largest

Adjectives ending in –y, -y changes to -i Friendliest

Don’t forget the article THE

 Other two-syllable adjectives and
longer adjectives
Crowded MORE … THAN
Comparatives

Boring LESS … THAN

Interesting Superlatives THE MOST

Polluted THE LEAST

 IRREGULAR FORMS
Adjectives Comparatives Superlatives

Good Better The best

Bad Worse The worst

Far Farther/Further The farthest/furthest

 Large and small differences
Far
Large difference A lot
much

Russia is bigger than Belgium.

 Large and small differences
A little
Small difference A little bit
slightly

France is bigger than Spain.

Common phrases with superlatives
• By far the most …/ - est;
• One of the most …/-est;
• The second/third most …/-est;

• The superlative phrases are often followed by

in + place.
Buenos Aires is the biggest city in Argentina
Other ways of making comparisons
• Not as … as;
• As …as;
• Less (uncountable) and fewer (countable) than;
• Very similar to
• About the same as
• Exactly the same as
• Slightly different from
• Completely different from