July 02, 2012

Comparatives and Superlatives

Comparatives :

We use comparatives to compare two things or two people. (e.g He is shorter than his wife.).

Superlatives :

Superlatives are used to compare more than two things or more than two people. (e.g . Mumbai is the biggest city in India).

Note : To form comparatives and superlatives you need to know the number of syllables in the adjective.Syllables are like "sound beats".

Example :

· "find" contains one syllable,

· but "finding" contains two — find and ing.

Hope you have got the basic idea on Comparatives, Superlatives and Sillables. Now lets have a look at some rules to form Comparatives and superlatives.

1. One syllable adjective ending in a silent 'e' — nice

· Comparative — add 'r' — nicer

· Superlative — add 'st' — nicest

2. One syllable adjective ending in one vowel and one consonnant — big

· Comparative — the consonant is doubled and 'er' is added —bigger

· Superlative — the consonant is doubled and 'est' is added—biggest

3. One syllable adjective ending in more than one consonant or more than a vowel —high, cheap

· Comparative — 'er' is added — higher, cheaper

· Superlative — 'est is added — highest, cheapest

4. A two syllable adjective ending in 'y' — happy

· Comparative — 'y' becomes 'i' and 'er' is added — happier

· Superlative — 'y' becomes 'i' and 'est' is added — happiest

5. Tow syllable or more adjectives without 'y' at the end — exciting

· Comparative — more + the adjective + than — more exciting than

· Superlative — more + the adjective + than — the most exciting

Examples:

· The Nile River is longer and more famous than the Thames.

· Egypt is much hotter than Sweden.

· Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

· This is one of the most exciting films I have ever seen.

Here is a table of Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Adjectives	Comparatives	Superlatives
bad	worse	worst
far(distance)	farther	farthest
far(extent)	further	furthest
good	better	best
little	less	least
many	more	most
much	more	most

How to use comparatives and superlatives ?

Comparatives	Superlatives
Comparatives are used to compare two things or two people: Alan is taller than John.	Superlatives are used to compare more than two things or two people. Superlative sentences usually use 'the': Alan is the most intelligent.