Comparatives and Superlatives.

Comparatives

Add -er to short adjectives to make a comparative;

• Small – Smaller
• Tall- Taller 
• Poor – Poorer
• Rich – Richer
• Hard – Harder
• Soft – Softer

Add -er to the adjective to make a comparative, WITH EXCEPTIONS!

Sometimes we need to double a consonant;

• Big – Bigger

Sometimes we remove -y and add -ier

• Happy – Happier

To make comparatives from longer adjectives, adjectives ending in -ed or adverbs with – ly use “more / less ___”

• Beautiful – More / Less beautiful
• Dangerous – More / Less dangerous
• Interesting  – More / Less interesting
• Slowly – More / Less slowly
• Easily – More / Less easily
• Tired – More / Less tired

Irregular Comparatives

Sometimes the comparative is completely irregular;

• Good – Better
• Bad – Worse
• Far – Further

We can modify these comparatives…

• He is much older than his brother.
• We are nowhere near as rich as you.
• She is far less interested in the film than he is.
• This bag is a little heavier than the other one.
• The job is significantly harder than we anticipated.
• They are far cheaper than the competitors.

….as …as

• Box A isn’t as big as box B

This form uses “as [adjective] as“.

• Don’t use  a comparative form here! Just a normal adjective.
• This is usually used in the negative.
  • I’m not as old as him.
• If used in positive sense it means that the things are the same.
  • I’m as tall as him. = We are the same height.

Continuous Change with Comparatives.

• This restaurant is getting more and more expensive.
• This problem is getting bigger and bigger.
• This film gets better and better.
• The situation is getting worse and worse.
• The days are getting longer and longer.
• My patience is getting thinner and thinner.

The… the…

• The  more I work, the more I earn.
• The less I sleep, the more tired I feel.
• The more news I read, the more depressed I am.
• The more I buy, the less I save.
• The older I get, the grumpier I become.
• The less I go out, the paler I look.
• The more music I make, the more ideas I have.
• The more time I spend with him, the more I understand his perspective.
• The more I read about it the less enthusiastic I am.
• The more time I spend working on this tune the more I dislike it.
• The less I sleep, the worse I feel.

Superlatives

We use a superlative adjective to say that something is more extreme in a characteristic than other things.

• August is the hottest month in Barcelona.
• Madrid is the biggest city in Spain.
• Everest is the tallest mountain in the world

For short adjectives use

The _____+est

• The tallest
• The smallest
• The richest

Superlatives use the definite article “the”.

For longer adjectives, adjectives ending in -ed or adverbs ending in -ly use 

The most / least ______

• The most beautiful
• The least complicated
• The most tired
• The most beautifully
• The most realistically.

Some adjectives are completely irregular in the superlative

• Good – The best
• Bad – The worst
• Far – The furthest / the farthest

In conclusion: Putting it all together

Looking at the balls again, we can say that;

the football is bigger than the tennis ball.

The tennis ball is smaller than the football.

The tennis ball isn’t as big as the football.

The beach ball is the biggest. The tennis ball is the smallest.