So it’s been a while since I last explained some grammar on the blog, so hey, as a New Year’s Resolution, I’ve decided to start posting stuff about grammar again, so I was thinking: “What should I start this year with? How can I make this year better in terms of grammar explanations? How can I make it more useful?” 🤔 And then it hit me: comparatives and superlatives! 😂 So let’s get started with this post which is more like a guide, actually.
What is a comparative?
- A comparative form or comparative structure expresses a difference between two people, things or animals.
What is a superlative?
- A superlative form or structure expresses the highest degree of a quality of a person, thing or animal.
Comparatives and superlatives are closely related, as we will see further on.
What and how do we compare?
We can compare anything we want, really, but grammatically speaking, we talk about comparison of adjectives, adverbs and nouns. And how? Well, thankfully, we have a number of ways to compare using connectors; you can see many applied examples here. However, in this post we will only focus on comparative adjectives.
Types of comparison
In general terms, we only speak of 3 simple types of comparison:
- Superiority comparison: used to express higher degrees of a quality.
Earaches are usually more painful than stomach aches.
- Inferiority comparison: used to express lower degrees of a quality.
It will be less humilliating to apologise now than to pretend it never happened.
- Equality comparison: used to express similar or equal degrees of a given quality.
Rome is at least as beautiful as Paris.
Now we will see how to compare adjectives for each type of comparison.
Comparatives: how to compare using adjectives
When using adjectives to make a superiority comparison, we must bear in mind that the number of syllables of the adjective will determine how the comparison is made. Also, if the sentence continues after the comparative form, we use “than“ to join both parts of the sentence. We have the following options:
We add “-er” to the adjective, but sometimes some spelling changes take place too.
- Regular 1-syllable adjectives: cold, long
It’s colder today than it was yesterday.
This film is longer than the one we watched yesterday.
- 1-syllable adjectives ending in CONSONANT-VOWEL-CONSONANT: big, hot
In this case, we double the last consonant before adding “-er“
China is bigger than Spain.
This summer is hotter than last year’s.
- 1-syllable adjectives ending in “-e”: nice, fine
Tim’s nicer than his wife.
- 1-syllable adjectives ending in “-y”: shy, dry
We can change the “-y” for “-i” and add “-er“, but sometimes we’ll see it without this change.
Almería is drier than Pamplona.
Luke is shier than Mike.
Two-syllable adjectives ending in “-y”
Some examples are: happy, cosy, lazy, etc. To form the comparatives of these adjectives, we change the “-y” for “-i” and add “-er“.
I was much happier before she dumped me.
I’m feeling lazier now that I’m on holiday.
Adjectives with 2 or more syllables
In this case, it’s easier (at least for Spanish speakers!) because we use “more” before the adjective. Here we DO NOT add “-er”. For example: difficult, intelligent, etc.
I found this test more difficult than the previous one.
He’s definitely more intelligent than me.
Sometimes, we’ll see some exceptions like handsome, which can be used to compare saying more handsome or handsomer.
Comparisons that express a lower degree using adjectives are extremely easy. In this case, the adjective does not change at all, we simply need to add “less” before the adjective, no matter how many syllables the adjective has. DO NOT add “-er”. 😀
His sense of humour made the situation less awkward.
I was less annoyed by him than by his wife.
Equality comparisons are used when we want to say that two things, animals or people possess the same degree of a quality. This is done quite easily by using the structure as + adjective + as. Here we DO NOT add “-er”. Let’s see some examples:
I’m just as tired as last night.
Messi is as good as Cristiano Ronaldo.
Superlative adjectives: how to compare using adjectives
As we’ve seen, we use superlatives to express the highest degree of a quality of a person, thing or animal. And once we get the hang of comparatives, using superlative forms is extremely easy, as it also depends on the number of syllables of each adjective:
One-syllable adjectives and two-syllable adjectives ending in “-y”
Where in comparisons we added “-er”, we now add “-est”. Also, to make a superlative we normally place “the” before the superlative form. The spelling rules to change the adjectives are the same. Let’s see some examples:
Asia is the largest continent.
In this picture, I look the happiest of all, right?
Adjectives with 2 or more syllables
Where previously we added “more” before the adjective in order to compare, we now add “the most”. Yes, it’s that easy! Let’s see some examples:
This is the most difficult exam I’ve ever done.
Joe is the most intelligent person I know.
Now, although straightfoward comparatives and superlatives are easy to use, there are ways we can express a superlative meaning without using a superlative and there are ways in which we can express inferiority without using “less”. 😀 Let’s see how:
- Expressing a superlative meaning with a comparative
He is smarter than any other person I’ve met. = He’s the smartest person I’ve met.
You can see how using a structure like “comparative form + than + any other…” expresses a superlative meaning.
- Expressing inferiority with an equality comparative
She’s not as pretty as her older sister = She’s less pretty than her older sister.
In this case, we simply need to use a negative verb to express inferiority. 😉
Irregular comparatives and superlatives
Do you know how in English we have tons of irregular verbs and spelling forms and so on? Well, comparatives and superlatives are not an exception. However, worry not, as there are only a few and they’re easy to remember. The most common adjectives with irregular comparatives are the following:
good > better (than) > (the) best
bad > worse (than) > (the) worst
far > further/farther (than) > (the) furthest/farthest
Basically, we call these adjectives “irregular” because they do not follow the “-er” comparative form rule. That’s it!
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Also published on Medium.