Comparative language

We commonly use adjective comparison structures and quantity comparison structures for IELTS
task 1 writing. Let’s look in detail at these structures:

Comparative adjective structures

We need to know the correct comparative forms of adjectives to use in our comparative structures. We
can see the rules in the table below:
* Note: For two syllable words, whether the comparative should be + –er or more and the superlative +
–est or most depends on the ending of the word. There are many different rules and exceptions that
determine which comparative / superlative form can be used. In some cases, both forms can be used.
There are also some irregular adjectives:
We use comparative adjectives to compare two things, people or places. We use than after
comparative adjectives to say what we are comparing something with:

Or we can compare the same thing, person or place at two different times:
He was shorter 3 years ago than now.
The figure for book sales was lower in 2001 than in 2005.

We can modify the sentence by adding adverbs of degree:

The figure for Canada is significantly higher than the figure for Australia.
The figure for book sales was slightly lower in 2001 than in 2005.
Notes:
 These are the same adverbs that you learnt studying trends.
 We cannot use very with comparatives (not the figure for Canada is very lower).

We can express similarity for comparatives. We can say two things are the same or similar
using as + adjective as:

We can be more specific by adding just, almost, nearly, half, twice, three times, etc:
Sales in the UK are twice as high as in France.
Sales in Germany are almost as low as in Switzerland.

We can say two things are different with not as + adjective + as:

Sales in Switzerland are not as low as in Germany.

Superlative adjectives
We use superlative adjectives to compare one thing in a group with all the other things in the
group:

We can also change the order of the structure to avoid repetition:

The most expensive metal is gold
The highest sales were in the UK

We can modify superlative adjectives using by far:

Sales in the UK were by far the highest.

We can modify superlatives with ordinal numbers:

Sales in France were the second highest.
Note: Don’t use phrases like ‘got second position’ or ‘took first place’.
 Comparative quantity structures

For plural or uncountable nouns we can compare quantities with more (comparative) or the most
(superlative):
China consumed more oil than India.
Students bought more text books than teachers (did).
Students bought more text books than notepads.
The UK consumed the most oil.

Note: The verbs used in these structures will depend on what is being measured.

We can use fewer (comparative) or the fewest (superlative) with plural countable nouns, and less
(comparative) or the least (superlative) with uncountable nouns:

Students bought fewer notepads than text books.

Canada consumed the least oil.
We can modify the sentence by adding adverbs of degree:

Students bought significantly fewer notepads than text books.

Students bought many more text books than notepads.
China consumed significantly more oil than India.
India consumed much less oil than China.

Note: If using many/much, use many for countable nouns and much for uncountable nouns.

We can say something is the same using as many/much + plural/countable noun + as:
The bookstore sold as many fiction books as nonfiction books.
The group aged 40 – 50 spent as much money as the 20 – 30 age group.

We can say something is not the same using not as many/much + plural/countable noun + as:
The bookstore did not sell as many fiction books as nonfiction books.
The group aged 40 – 50 did not spend as much money as the 20 – 30 age group.

Note: You need to change the grammar to include an auxiliary verb.

We can add more specific information about quantity by using half, twice, three times,
etc. with as many/much as:

The bookstore sold twice as many fiction books as textbooks.

The bookstore sold half as many textbooks as fiction books.
The young adults group spent three times as much money as the above 60 age group.
The above 60 age group spend a third as much money as the young adults group.
Alternative structures
We can also use some different grammatical structures for comparing quantities.