English Grammar Lesson

Comparative Adjectives

When comparing two persons or things, we use a

comparative adjective + than .

Examples:

Andy is shorter than Leon.

Leon is nicer than Andy.

Leon is more popular than Andy.

Exercise 1

Group the following adjectives into three groups:

closer taller nicer more exciting more cheerful thicker more careless larger more serious older poorer safer

Answers:

(i) poorer, taller, thicker, older

(ii) closer, safer, nicer, larger

(iii) more careless, more cheerful, more serious, more exciting

One syllable:

Syllable

safe tall old

More than one syllable:

useful use fulexciting ex cit ingserious se ri ous

Explanation

Formation of Comparative Adjectives

(i) For most adjectives of 1 or 2 syllables,

add ‘er’

Examples: lighter, warmer,

quieter, cleverer

(ii) For adjectives of 1 or 2 syllables ending in ‘e’, add ‘r’

Examples: larger, wider, later, nicer

(iii) For adjectives of more than 2 syllables oradjectives of 2 syllablesending in ‘ful’, ‘less’, ‘ic’, ‘ous’, ‘ive’,add ‘more’

Examples: more beautiful, more expensive, more comfortable, more enthusiastic

more helpful, more useless, more spacious, more active

Exercise 2

List the comparative degree of the following adjectives:

1. young 2. white3. lively4. effective5. cool6. wise 7. large8. warm9. charming

younger whitermore lively

more effective cooler wiser

larger warmer

more charming

Practice Exercise 1

The baby is the pumpkin.

small

smaller than

This T-shirt is that T-shirt.

colourful

more colourful than

The diamond of the ring isthe diamond of the necklace.

large

larger than

Mr ChanMr Wong

richMr Chan is richer than Mr Wong.

sofas chairs

comfortable

Sofas are more comfortable than chairs.

Flat A

bedroom

bedroom

toilet

kitchen

Living room

bedroom

bedroom

toilet

Living room

kitchen

Flat B

The bedrooms of flat A

the bedrooms of flat B.spacious

are more spacious than

Practice Exercise 2

Compare yourself with your neighbour.

Make 5 sentences using comparative adjectives.

You should make comparison in the following areas:

- appearance (maximum 3 sentences)

- personality

- academic results

Mr Tam (Vice-principal) Miss Wong (a Maths teacher)

Examples:

Mr Tam is taller than Miss Wong.

Miss Wong is more humorous than Mr Tam.

Mr Tam’s salary is higher than Miss Wong’s salary.

The office of Mr Tam is larger than the office of Miss Wong.

You may make use of the following adjectives:

- appearance

e.g. tall, short, thin, fat, beautiful, handsome

- personality

e.g. nice, friendly, polite, talkative

- academic results

e.g. hard-working, intelligent

Production

Situation

• You are a Form 2 student and very weak in English. You are looking for a tutorial school.

• You live in Wanchai and have to attend a computer course every Saturday afternoon.

• You have found information about 2 tutorial schools. Compare them and tell which one you will choose.

B1B1

TOP 1

TOP 1

B1

North Point Central

5 mins. walk from MTR station

10 mins. walk from MTR station

1,000 sq. ft. (5 classrooms)

1,300 sq.ft. (5 classrooms)

LOCATION & PREMISES

convenient? near to MTR station? large? small?

TOP 1B1

TUTORIAL CLASSES

Price: $1,500 (10 lessons) Price: $1,800 (10 lessons)Duration: 1.5 hrs.

once a week

(Fri. afternoon)

Duration: 2 hrs.

once a week

(Sat. morning)

Class Size: 55 /class Class Size: 40 /class

expensive?cheap?

convenient?long? short?

TOP 1B1

CLASS ACTIVITIES & NOTES

No games in class Language games in each class

detailed notes with exercises will be provided after each lesson

grammar notes will be provided

interesting?detailed? useful?

TOP 1B1

TUTORS

40 years old 28 years old 10 years’ teaching e

xperience 5 years’ teaching e

xperience

young?

old?

experienced?

handsome?

Which tutorial school will you choose? Try to compare the two schools and decide.

List five reasons why you choose it.

Location North Point (5 mins.walk from MTRstation)

Central (10 mins.walk from MTRstation)

Premises 1,000 sq.ft.(5 classrooms)

1,300 sq.ft. (5 classrooms)

Schoolfee

$1,500 (10 lessons) $1,300 (10 lessons)

Englishclass

1.5 hrs./ lessononce a week

(Fri. afternoon)55 students / classno games in class

2 hrs. / lessononce a week

(Sat. morning)40 students / classlanguage games in

each lessonnotes detailed notes with

exercises will beprovided after eachlesson

grammar notes will beprovided

Tutor 40 years old10 years’ teachingexperience

28 years old5 years’ teachingexperience

convenient? near to the MTR station?

large?small?

expensive? cheap?

long? short?

interesting?

detailed?useful?

young?experienced?

old?

handsome?

HomeworkYou are going to have lunch with your friend. You have to decide where to go.

Try to compare Kentucky and Mc Donald’s. You can talk about the food, price of food, service and environment of these two restaurants.

State your decision and at least five reasons using comparative adjectives. Write about 50 words.