{"id":6284,"date":"2017-03-25T16:47:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T14:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=6284"},"modified":"2021-10-11T09:28:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T07:28:02","slug":"comparatives-and-superlatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/comparatives-and-superlatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparatives and Superlatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Comparatives and Superlatives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (<em>larger, smaller, faster, higher<\/em>). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared, in this pattern:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective +\u00a0<em>than<\/em>\u00a0+ noun (object).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The second item of comparison can be omitted if it is clear from the context (final example below).<\/p>\n<p>EXAMPLES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My garden is\u00a0<strong>larger\u00a0<\/strong>than hers.<\/li>\n<li>This book is\u00a0<strong>thicker\u00a0<\/strong>than the one I bought.<\/li>\n<li>Your dog runs\u00a0<strong>faster\u00a0<\/strong>than Tom&#8217;s dog.<\/li>\n<li>Birds fly\u00a0<strong>higher\u00a0<\/strong>than ducks.<\/li>\n<li>Peter and John are both my friends, but I like Peter\u00a0<strong>better<\/strong>. (&#8220;than John&#8221; is understood)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (<em>the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest<\/em>). They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a group of objects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The group that is being compared with can be omitted if it is clear from the context (final example below).<\/p>\n<p>EXAMPLES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This building is the\u00a0<strong>tallest\u00a0<\/strong>one in our city.<\/li>\n<li>This is the\u00a0<strong>smallest\u00a0<\/strong>book I&#8217;ve ever seen.<\/li>\n<li>Your horse ran the\u00a0<strong>fastest\u00a0<\/strong>of any horses in the race.<\/li>\n<li>We all threw our rocks at the same time. My rock flew the\u00a0<strong>highest<\/strong>. (&#8220;of all the rocks&#8221; is understood)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>FORMING REGULAR COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Forming comparatives and superlatives is easy. The form depends on the number of syllables in the original adjective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ONE SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Add\u00a0<em>-er<\/em>\u00a0for the comparative and\u00a0<em>-est<\/em>\u00a0for the superlative. If the adjective has a consonant + single vowel + consonant spelling, the final consonant must be doubled before adding the ending.<\/p>\n<table width=\"900\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Adjective<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Comparative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Superlative<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>large<\/td>\n<td>larger<\/td>\n<td>largest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>smart<\/td>\n<td>smarter<\/td>\n<td>smartest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>big<\/td>\n<td>bigger<\/td>\n<td>biggest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>fast<\/td>\n<td>faster<\/td>\n<td>fastest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>T<strong>WO SYLLABLES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Adjectives with two syllables can form the comparative either by adding\u00a0<em>-er<\/em>\u00a0or by preceeding the adjective with\u00a0<em>more<\/em>. These adjectives form the superlative either by adding\u00a0<em>-est<\/em>\u00a0or by preceeding the adjective with\u00a0<em>most<\/em>. In many cases, both forms are used, although one usage will be more common than the other. If you are not sure whether a two-syllable adjective can take a comparative or superlative ending, play it safe and use\u00a0<em>more <\/em>and\u00a0<em>most<\/em>\u00a0instead. For adjectives ending in\u00a0<em>y<\/em>, change the y to an i before adding the ending.<\/p>\n<table width=\"900\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Adjective<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Comparative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Superlative<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>lucky<\/td>\n<td>luckier<\/td>\n<td>luckiest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>simple<\/td>\n<td>simpler<\/td>\n<td>simplest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>busy<\/td>\n<td>busier<\/td>\n<td>busiest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>tilted<\/td>\n<td>more tilted<\/td>\n<td>most tilted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>tangled<\/td>\n<td>more tangled<\/td>\n<td>most tangled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>THREE OR MORE SYLLABLES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Adjectives with three or more syllables form the comparative by putting\u00a0<em>more<\/em>\u00a0in front of the adjective, and the superlative by putting\u00a0<em>most<\/em>\u00a0in front.<\/p>\n<table width=\"900\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Adjective<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Comparative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Superlative<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>important<\/td>\n<td>more important<\/td>\n<td>most important<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>expensive<\/td>\n<td>more expensive<\/td>\n<td>most expensive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>IRREGULAR COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These very common adjectives have completely irregular comparative and superlative forms.<\/p>\n<table width=\"900\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Adjective<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Comparative<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Superlative<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>good<\/td>\n<td>better<\/td>\n<td>best<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>bad<\/td>\n<td>worse<\/td>\n<td>worst<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>little<\/td>\n<td>less<\/td>\n<td>least<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>much<\/td>\n<td>more<\/td>\n<td>most<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>far<\/td>\n<td>further \/ farther<\/td>\n<td>furthest \/ farthest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>EXAMPLES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Today is the\u00a0<strong>worst\u00a0<\/strong>day of my life.<\/li>\n<li>She plays badminton <strong>better\u00a0<\/strong>than I do.<\/li>\n<li>This is the\u00a0<strong>least\u00a0<\/strong>expensive coat in the store.<\/li>\n<li>This shirt is\u00a0<strong>less\u00a0<\/strong>expensive than that one.<\/li>\n<li>I jog pretty far yesterday, but I jogged even\u00a0<strong>farther<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comparatives and Superlatives COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVES Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster, higher). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared, in this pattern: Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective +\u00a0than\u00a0+ noun (object). The second item of comparison can be omitted if it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Comparatives and Superlatives | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2017\/03\/comparatives-and-superlatives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comparatives and Superlatives | phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Comparatives and Superlatives COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVES Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster, higher). 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