Comparatives and Superlatives

Superlative and Comparative 

Comparative

We use comparative adjectives to describe and compare people and things:

• This car is certainly better but it’s much more expensive.
•  I’m feeling happier now.
•  We need a bigger garden 

We use than when we want to compare one thing with another:

•  She is two years older than me. 
•  New York is much bigger than Boston. 
•  He is a better player than Ronaldo. 
•  France is a bigger country than Britain. 

When we want to describe how something or someone changes we can use two comparatives with and:

•   The balloon got bigger and bigger. 
•  Everything is getting more and more expensive. 
•  Grandfather is looking older and older. 

 We often use the with comparative adjectives to show that one thing depends on another:
When you drive faster it is more dangerous
> The faster you drive, the more dangerous it is. When they climbed higher it got colder
> The higher they climbed, the colder it got.

 Superlative adjectives: 

The superlatives are used, however, to compare to show the difference between more than two things or more than two people.

•  We use the with a superlative: 
• It was the happiest day of my life. 
• Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
•  That’s the best film I have seen this year. 
• I have three sisters, Jan is the oldest and Angela is the youngest .

 -The 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 consonant — 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