Comparison of Adjectives

Exercise on Positive Form and Comparison of Adjectives

Positive Form
Use the positive form of the adjective if the comparison contains one of the
following expressions:

as as

Example: Jane is as tall as John.

not as as / not so as

Example: John is not as tall as Arnie.

Comparative Form and Superlative Form (-er/-est)

one-syllable adjectives (clean, new, cheap)
two-syllable adjectives ending in -y or -er (easy, happy, pretty, dirty, clever)
positive form

comparative form superlative form

clean cleaner

(the) cleanest

Exceptions in spelling when adding -er / -est

silent e is dropped
Example: late-later-latest

final y after a consonant becomes i

Example: easy-easier-easiest

final consonant after short, stressed vowel is doubled

Example: hot-hotter-hottest

Comparative Form and Superlative Form (more/most)

adjectives of three or more syllables (and two-syllable adjectives not ending in
-y/-er)
positive form
difficult

comparative form superlative form

more difficult

most difficult

Comparative Form and Superlative Form (irregular comparisons)

positive form

comparative form superlative form

good better best

bad / ill

worse worst

little (amount)
little (size)

less

smaller

much / many

least
smallest

more most

far (place + time) further

far (place)

farther

late (time)

later latest

furthest

farthest

late (order) latter last

near (place) nearer
near (order) -

nearest
next

old (people and things)

older oldest

old (people) elder eldest

Form and Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs are used to express how something is done (adjectives express how
someone or something is).

Example: The dog sleeps quietly. The dog is absolutely quiet.

Form
In general: adjective + -ly
adjective
slow

adverb

slowly

Exceptions in spelling
exception

example

silent e is dropped in true, due, whole true truly

y becomes i happy happily
le after a consonant is dropped sensible sensibly
after ll only add y

full fully

Adjectives ending in -ic: adjective + -ally (exception: public-publicly)

adjective

adverb

fantastic

fantastically

Adjectives ending in -ly: use in a way / manner or another adverb with similar
meaning
adjective

adverb

friendly

in a friendly way

in a friendly manner
likely probably
Exceptions
adjective

adverb (meaning) adverb (meaning)

good well
difficult

with difficulty

public publicly
deep deep (place) deeply (feeling)
direct direct directly (=soon)
hard

hard

hardly (=seldom)

high

high (place) highly (figurative)

late

late

lately (=recently)

most most mostly (=usually)

near

near

nearly (=almost)

pretty pretty (=rather)

prettily

short short shortly (=soon)

The following adjectives are also used as adverbs (without modification):
daily, enough, early, far, fast, hourly, little, long, low, monthly, much,
straight, weekly, yearly,
Exercise on the form of adverbs

Comparison
Comparison (-er/-est)
Comparative ending in -er
one-syllable adverbs (hard)

Superlative ending in -est

harder

hardest

adverbs with the same form as adjectives (early)

earlierearliest

Comparison (more / most)

Comparative formed with more Superlative formed with most
adverbs ending in -ly (happily)

more happily

Irregular comparisons
positive form
well

comparative superlative

better best

badly worse worst

ill

worse worst

little

less

least

much more most

far (place + time) further
far (place)

farther

late (time)

later latest

furthest

farthest

Adjective or Adverb
Adjectives are used to modify nouns:

most happily

The dog is loud.

Adverbs are used to modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs:

The dog barks loudly.

Linking Verbs
Some verbs can only be used with adjectives, others might change their meaning
when used with an adverb.

verb

used with an adjective

used with an adverb

look

look good (= appearance)look well (= healthy)

feel feel good (= state of health/mind)

touch)
smell smell good (= odour)

feel well (= have a good sense of

smell well (= have a good sense of smell)

taste taste good (= preference)taste well (= have a good sense of taste)

The following verbs can only be used with adjectives:

be
become
get
grow
keep
remain
seem
sound
stay
turn