ADJECTIVESADJECTIVESUnit 7 - Interactive Grammar Notebook

Lesson 7:2 DEGREES OF COMPARISON

Comparing with Adjectives

Adjectives can be used to COMPARE. Adjectives used to compare have special

forms, called degrees.

positive degree = no comparison

comparative degree = comparison between 2 things

superlative degree = comparison between 3+ things

Examples

POSITIVE: June is usually a cold month.COMPARATIVE: July is often colder than June.SUPERLATIVE: August is sometimes the coldest month of all.

POSITIVE: December can be a humid month.COMPARATIVE: January is usually more humid than December.SUPERLATIVE: February can be the most humid month of the year.

regular adjectives

For regular adjectives, follow these rules to write the comparative and superlative forms…

For all 1-syllable and a few 2-syllable adjectives

add -er for comparative add -est for superlative

tall | taller | tallest clear | clearer | clearest

For most adjectives with 2 syllables and all

adjectives with 3+ syllables

use more for comparative use most for superlative

intelligent more intelligent most intelligent

practice

sad sadder saddest

beautiful more beautiful most beautiful

faithful more faithful most faithful

chubby chubbier chubbiest

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

regular adjectives

Don’t forget these rules either…

For adjectives ending with a single vowel and

a consonantdouble the consonant

before adding the ending big | bigger | biggest

slim | slimmer | slimmest

For adjectives ending with a consonant and y

change the y to i before adding the ending

noisy | noisier | noisiest silly | sillier | silliest

practice

big bigger biggest

ugly uglier ugliest

cruel crueler cruelest

empty emptier emptiest

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

practice

irregular adjectivesOf course there are a few adjectives that don’t follow the rules…

better best

well better best

bad worse worst

little (quantity) less least

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

good

much, many more most

mem

orize