- Adjectives and adverbs
are great for adding detail to your story
but what if you want to talk about how one person idea
or thing compares to another one?
This is where the comparative structure comes into play.
We use comparisons to provide richer detail
and more context for the listener or reader.
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Today, we are going to discuss
comparative and superlative adjectives.
You likely already know that adjectives and adverbs
modify nouns and verbs
and it's possible to make comparative sentences
simply using an adjective or adverb
using the as-as
or not-as-as pattern.
For example, "She is as pretty as her mother."
Or, "The test was not as easy as I thought."
But today's lesson will focus on making comparisons
using comparative and superlative adjectives,
comparatives and superlatives for short.
A comparative is used to compare two nouns,
words like faster,
slower, shorter, smaller.
Notice that comparatives often end in e-r, er,
but not always.
A superlative is used to compare three or more objects
that are at the upper and lower limits of quality,
words like the fastest, the slowest,
the shortest, the smallest.
Notice the word the comes before the superlative.
Now that you understand the differences
between comparatives and superlatives,
let's look at a few important rules to follow
when making comparisons.
Let's start by learning how to form a comparative sentence.
They follow this pattern:
noun, subject, plus verb,
plus comparative adjective,
plus than, plus noun, object.
We must use the word than after the comparative adjective
in comparative sentences,
like, "She is shorter than Lisa."
"Our car is faster than his."
The pattern for writing a superlative sentence
is a bit different.
The pattern is subject noun, plus verb,
plus the, plus superlative adjective,
plus the object noun.
We omit than but place the before the superlative adjective.
For example, "She is the shortest in the class."
Or, "Our car is the fastest in town."
Now, forming regular comparatives
and superlatives is fairly easy.
Let's look at a few rules.
For one syllable adjectives, we add er
to comparatives and est to superlatives:
large, larger, largest;
old, older, oldest.
Notice with the superlatives,
I'm not saying est, ol-dest.
I'm saying ist, ol-dist.
An example, it was the largest house we had ever seen.
Adjectives that follow the consonant,
plus single vowel, plus consonant pattern
must double the final consonant.
That sounds complicated
but you'll see it and it will become clear:
sad, sadder, saddest;
fat, fatter, fattest.
Do you see what I mean there?
Consonant, vowel, consonant.
We double the final consonant
to make comparatives and superlatives.
An example, "Your cat is much fatter than last time."
Now let's talk about most two-syllable words.
Not all of them, there are always exceptions
but most of them.
Most two-syllable comparatives will add more or less
and the superlatives will add most or least.
Thoughtful, more thoughtful or less thoughtful
and most thoughtful or least thoughtful.
Pleasant, more or less pleasant, most or least pleasant.
We don't say pleasanter or pleasantest.
An example, "We have the most thoughtful neighbours
in this neighbourhood."
There are other two-syllable adjectives.
What about the ones that end in y?
If a two-syllable adjective ends in y,
we remove the y, we change it to i,
and we add er in the comparative form
and est in the superlative form:
happy, happier, happiest;
hungry, hungrier, hungriest.
An example, "Nobody is hungrier than Carl
after a cricket match."
We have some other two-syllable adjectives.
We have some ending with or or ow
which are treated
like regular comparatives and superlatives.
We add er to the comparatives and est to the superlatives:
narrow, narrower, narrowest;
poor, poorer, poorest.
"They took us on the narrowest bridge."
We have adverbs ending in ly.
Adverbs that end in ly receive
more or less in the comparative form
and most or least in the superlative form.
Slowly, more or less slowly,
most or least slowly.
Lively, more or less lively,
most or least lively.
An example, "Georgie drives the most slowly
out of the people in my family."
You could also say, "Georgie drives the slowest
out of the people in my family."
Now this is where it gets a bit tricky.
Some adjectives can be correct in either form.
Let's look at a few examples.
Friendly, this can be friendlier
or more friendly or less friendly.
It can be friendliest or most or least friendly.
Simple is the same, simple, simpler, simplest
or simple, more/less simple, most/least simple.
The same goes for clever,
cleverer or cleverest,
or more or less clever,
or most or least clever.
An example, "That was simpler than I expected."
Or, "That was more simple than I expected."
There are, of course, some irregular adjectives
that don't follow any rule.
These need to be memorised which comes with practise.
For example: bad, worst, worst;
good, better, best;
little, less, least;
far, farther, farthest,
or far, further, furthest.
Further and furthest is more common in British English
and farther and farthest is more common in American English.
It's important that you recognise both.
An example, "My experience at that restaurant
was the worst I had my entire trip."
Right, that's it for me today.
I hope you enjoyed this lesson
and I hope you learnt something.
Don't forget that there is a full lesson PDF
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I've also got my website
where I've got a fantastic interactive pronunciation tool.
If you want to improve your pronunciation, this is perfect.
You can see every single phoneme
and you can click on the phonemes
and hear how they're pronounced
and hear me say a word containing those phonemes.
The link's down below, play around with it,
it's really useful.
If you would like to improve your listening skills
and your vocabulary skills,
I've also got my vlogging channel.
I document my life here in the English countryside
but the important part
is that every vlog is fully subtitled
so you can use it for listening practise
and you can use it to expand your vocabulary.
I will see you soon for another lesson, bye.
(bright music)