Grammar Class

“Comparisons”

2021
 In which situations do we use the following statements?

Ahmad is shorter than Ali.

Firefighting is more stressful job than being a sale manager.

Game testers earn less than software developers.

There are different ways to compare things in English;

 With adjectives
 With nouns
 With past participle
 With verbs
With Adjectives:
1- If the adjective is one syllable, you can add -er.

small – smaller; big – bigger; nice – nicer,

Sara is taller than Mary.

2- If the adjective has two syllables, but ends in -y, we can change the end to -ier.

lucky – luckier; happy – happier.

Amin is happier than his brother.

3- Adjectives of two syllables and more, we should use more/less + adjective.

handsome – more handsome; beautiful – more beautiful and so on.

The first movie was less interesting than the second.

Ranj is more patient than Rawa.

4- When we compare two things, use ‘than’.

“She’s younger than me.”

“This exercise is more difficult than the last one.”

More/less (adj.) than.

5- When we want to say something is similar (same), use ‘as (adj.) as’.

“She’s as tall as her brother”.

6- When we want to say something is not equal, use ‘not as (adj.) as’.

“It’s not as nice as it was yesterday.

 With Nouns

1- When we compare two things, use ‘than’.

Teachers have better hours than doctors.

Nurses have less education than doctors.

better/worse (noun.) than.

More/less (noun.) than.

2- When we want to say something is similar, use ‘as much/many (noun.) as’.

“She has as experience as her mate”.

3- When we want to say something is not equal, use ‘not as much/many (noun.) as’.

“He doesn’t have as education as his father.

 With Past Participle

1- When we compare two things, use ‘than’.

Ali is better paid than his brother.
better/worse (pp.) than.

2- When we want to say something is similar (same), use ‘as (pp.) as’.

“She is as paid as her mate”.

3- When we want to say something is not equal, use ‘not as (pp.) as’.

“He isn’t as educated as his father.

 With Verbs
1- When we want to compare two things, we can use than;
He earns less than his brother.
(verb) more/less than.

2- when we want to say two things are equal (same), we can use as much as:
My mother cleans as much as him.
(verb) as much as.

3- when we want to say two things are not equal.

My mother doesn’t clean as much as him.
Doesn’t (verb) as much as.
 Something or someone which is in highest in quality among others.
By adding –est , (one syllabus adjectives).

This car is the cheapest one.

This winter is the coldest winter I have ever seen.
 If the adjective or adverb consists of more than one syllabus, we use “the most”;

The movie was the most interesting one.

 We use (the) before superlatives, also we can use possessive pronouns.

He is the smartest students in my class.

He has his busiest day.

 There are some other expressions, such as different from, similar to and the
same as.

 His shirt is totally similar to mine.

 The first book is the same as the second book.

 His car is really different from mine.

Note:
very, really, completely or totally can be used with similar to and different from.
 To show big differences “much, so much, a lot, or far” can be used.

His education was far less than others.

 To show small differences “slightly, a little, a bit, a little bit or not much” can be used.

Houses are not much expensive than flats.

Adjective Comparative Superlative
good better (the) best

bad worse (the) worst

far farther (the) farthest

little less (the) least

Notes:
 Better/worse can be used to express the quality.
 More/less can be used to show the quantity.

 Many is used for countable nouns.

 Much is used for uncountable nouns.

 If an adjective ends in a vowel + consonant, double the last letter before adding
-er or -est (unless it ends in -w).
Adjective: big hot new
Comparative: bigger hotter newer
Superlative: biggest hottest newest
 There are some few two syllabus adjectives that can take both –er and est or more
and most.

Quiet, simple, polite, lovely, lively.

 He is more polite/politer than his brother.

 It was the simplest / most simple exam.

 There are few one syllabus adjectives that we should use more and
most instead of –er and –est.

Fun, right, wrong, ill,

Reading is more fun than writing.

 To use –er or more instead of -est and most.

He is the nicer person I met.

He is the nicest person I met.

It was more interesting movie I have ever seen.

It was the most interesting movie I have ever seen.

 To use as instead of than and visa versa.

The first picture is smaller as the second picture.

The first picture is smaller than the second picture.
 To use both –er and more or –est and most together.

This laptop is more bigger than mine.

This laptop is bigger than mine.

This car is the most cheapest one.

This car is the cheapest one.
 NEXT CLASS

Midterm Exam