COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

Thereare three forms of comparison: positive –John is a nice boy.

comparative – Peter is nicer than John.
superlative – Andrew is the nicest in the class.

1.Comparison with ER / EST 2.Comparison with MORE / THE MOST

1.1. ONE SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL.
DIFFICULT MORE THE MOST
POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL. DIFFICULT DIFFICULT
CLEAN CLEANER THE CLEANEST
BEAUTIFUL MORE THE MOST
NEW NEWER THE NEWEST BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL
CHEAP CHEAPER THE CHEAPEST INTERESTIN MORE THE MOST
G INTERESTING INTERESTING
1.2. TWO SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES, ENDING IN - OW BORED MORE BORED THE MOST
BORED
POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL.
NARROW NARROWER THE NARROWEST
SHALLOW SHALLOWER THE SHALLOWEST 3. IRREGULAR ADJECTIVES
YELLOW YELLOWER THE YELLOWEST
POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL.
1.3. TWO SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES, ENDING IN - ER GOOD BETTER THE BEST
BAD WORSE THE WORST
POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL. MUCH MORE THE MOST
CLEVER CLEVERER THE CLEVEREST MANY
SLENDER SLENDERER THE SLENDEREST LITTLE LESS THE LEAST
OLD OLDER THE OLDEST
1.4. TWO SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES, ENDING IN - LE ELDER THE ELDEST
FAR FARTHER THE FARTHEST
POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL. FURTHER THE FURTHEST
SIMPLE SIMPLER THE SIMPLEST
GENTLE GENTLER THE GENTLEST *Elder and eldest mean the same as older and oldest.
We only use the adjectives elder and eldest before a
1.5. ADJECTIVES ENDING IN - Y noun (as attributive adjectives), and usually when
talking about relationships within a family:
POSITIVE COMPAR. SUPERL.
DIRTY DIRTIER THE DIRTIEST Let me introduce Siga. She’s my elder sister.
EASY EASIER THE EASIEST
PRETTY PRETTIER THE PRETTIEST Not: … She’s my sister. She’s elder.
It’s Catherine’s eightieth birthday on Thursday and she
exception: SHY – SHYER – THE SHYEST is now the eldest member of the family.
* Farther and the farthest are used to talk about
Comparisons of equality (as tall as his father) distance
 As … as … He could see a small boat on the farther shore
If two things are equal in some way, we can use a We use further before a noun to mean ‘extra’,
comparison with as … as …. ‘additional’ or ‘a higher level’:
He’s grown so much. He’s as tall  as  his father now.  For further information, please ring 095-6710090.
The team is still as good  as  it was five years ago.  We also use further to mean ‘more’:
Negative forms I do not propose to discuss it any further.
He didn’t  run as fast as he did in the European
Championship.

He didn’t  pay  as much tax this year as last year

because he earned less.