Level: beginner
Comparative adjectives
We use comparative adjectives to show change or make comparisons:
This car is certainly better, but it's much more expensive.
I'm feeling happier now.
We need a bigger garden.
We use than when we want to compare one thing with another:
She is two years older than me.
New York is much bigger than Boston.
He is a better player than Ronaldo.
France is a bigger country than Britain.
When we want to describe how something or someone changes we can use two comparatives with and:
The balloon got bigger and bigger.
Everything is getting more and more expensive.
Grandfather is looking older and older.
We often use the with comparative adjectives to show that one thing depends on another:
The faster you drive, the more dangerous it is.
(= When you drive faster, it is more dangerous.)The higher they climbed, the colder it got.
(= When they climbed higher, it got colder.)
- Comparative adjectives 1
- Comparative adjectives 2
Superlative adjectives
We use the with superlative adjectives:
It was the happiest day of my life.
Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
That’s the best film I have seen this year.
I have three sisters: Jan is the oldest and Angela is the youngest.
- Superlative adjectives 1
- Superlative adjectives 2
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How to form comparative and superlative adjectives
We usually add –er and –est to one-syllable words to make comparatives and superlatives:
| old | older | oldest |
| long | longer | longest |
If an adjective ends in –e, we add –r or –st:
| nice | nicer | nicest |
| large | larger | largest |
If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we double the consonant:
| big | bigger | biggest |
| fat | fatter | fattest |
If an adjective ends in a consonant and –y, we change –y to –i and add –er or –est:
| happy | happier | happiest |
| silly | sillier | silliest |
We use more and most to make comparatives and superlatives for most two syllable adjectives and for all adjectives with three or more syllables:
| careful | more careful | most careful |
| interesting | more interesting | most interesting |
However, with these common two-syllable adjectives, you can either add –er/–r and –est/–st or use more and most:
| common cruel gentle handsome likely |
narrow pleasant polite simple stupid |
He is certainly handsomer than his brother.
His brother is handsome, but he is more handsome.
She is one of the politest people I have ever met.
She is the most polite person I have ever met.
The adjectives good, bad and far have irregular comparatives and superlatives:
| good | better | best |
| bad | worse | worst |
| far | farther/further | farthest/furthest |
- How to form comparative and superlative adjectives
Hello Pratapsingh
I would say that B, C and D are all grammatically correct.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello OlgaT,
The word 'little' has more than one meaning.
When we use it to describe quantity (a little time) then the progression is as you say: little > less > the least.
When we use it to describe size (a little girl) the progression is little > littler > the littlest.
However, littler/the littlest are considered non-standard by most speakers. The overwhelming majority avoid it and simply substitute smaller/the smallest.
The alternatives (more litltle/the most little) are also used rarely and sound old-fashioned.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SajadKhan,
Your example is correct. The phrase 'much the best' has a similar meaning to 'easily the best'. It's quite a formal phrasing.
Most pages have comments sections but some do not. Generally, these are pages which are abbreviated versions of other pages or pages which have relatively little information on them, if I remember correctly.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi SonuKumar,
Strong adjectives are quite common, but people also use, for example, 'very dirty'. I'm afraid I can't really be much more specific than that, as what people say depends heavily on context and their own way of speaking. If you are writing for a teacher or an exam, strong adjectives, judiciously used, are probably going to impress your reader more, though I'm not sure that's what you're thinking of.
The same 'rule' (though I'm not sure I'd called it a rule, really) doesn't really apply to adverbs. These adverbs exist, for the most part, but are quite unusual.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lal,
'eldest' and 'oldest' mean exactly the same thing in this sentence. Traditionally, 'eldest' was probably more common than 'oldest', but I'd say both forms are used equally these days.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi David,
'At risk of' is an example of a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases can have adjectival or adverbial functions in the sentence. In this case it is adjectival.
If you want to analyse sentences for the functions of various parts then a good place to start is an online parsing tool. They are not perfect but are a good starting point. You can find many online, such as this one.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Darshan Sheth,
It is often possible to choose between the past simple and the past perfect in sentences with two actions in the past. This is because both can be used to show actions which occur in a sequence. The difference is that the past perfect also suggests some connection between the two actions: one causes the other, or influences the other in some way. Thus both of these are possible:
Hardly did the men start training than they were sent into battle.
Hardly had the men started training than they were sent into battle.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team