We can use adjectives to describe things and adverbs too.
Adjectives – snowy / big / beautiful
– This is a snowy mountain.
– That is a big car.
– What a beautiful girl.
Adverbs – fast / far / slow
– She is a fast walker.
– I can see very far.
– That truck is very slow.
We also use adjectives and adverbs to compare things.
These things might be very similar or very different.
Comparatives
David is taller than Peter.
Sally is taller than David.
Sometimes comparatives compare things that are very similar e.g. – David is slightly taller than Peter.
Sometimes they compare things that are very different – e.g. Sally is much taller than Peter.
Superlatives
Peter is the shortest.
Sally is the tallest.
How do we make comparatives and superlatives?
Comparatives – Sally is taller than David.
Notice that in these sentences, we need the ‘be‘ verb before the comparative and ‘than‘ after the comparative.
Superlatives – Peter is the shortest.
Notice that in these sentences, we also need the ‘be‘ verb and also ‘the‘ before the superlative. We don’t need to use ‘than’ in these sentences, e.g. Peter is the shortest than Sally and David.
RULES
- 1 syllable words – add -er and -est, e.g. tall taller tallest / short shorter shortest
- Most 2 syllable words – add more and most, e.g. different – more different – the most different
- ** some common 2 syllable words you can add -er/-est or more/most
- All 3 syllable words – add more and most, e.g. beautiful – more beautiful – the most beautiful
- Last letter ‘e’ – add -r/-st, e.g. large – larger – the largest
- Last 2 letters – vowel + consonant – x2 the last consonant. E.g. big – bigger – the biggest
- Last letter ‘y’ – change the ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add -er / -est, e.g. pretty – prettier – prettiest
- Some very common words are irregular – e.g. good – bad – worse, far – further – furthest
Basic comparative sentences are quite easy to make, when you know the rules. Even when you make mistakes with the rules, the meaning is still clear, so it is still good to try and use them.
Examples from the video
- I’m faster than you.
- She was probably better than me.
- The hardest part is not really climbing the mountain, it’s going back down.
- As you get higher and higher, you can see further and further.
- As you study harder and harder, you can speak English better and better.
- As you get closer to the top, it does get quite exciting.
- The harder we study English, the easier it becomes.
- The higher we got, the more snow there was on the ground.
- The lower we got, the less snow there was on the ground.
Another more complex use is with conditionals.
Zero conditionals – When it snows, it gets colder. (for facts)
First conditionals – If I stay outside too long, I’ll get colder. (possible situations in the future)
Second conditionals – If I lived in Australia, I’d be warmer than I am now! (an unreal, imaginary situation)
Third conditionals – It would have been warmer if we had stayed in Australia. (an imaginary result, from an unreal past situation)
Might /may + have + been + comparative
- It might have been faster to walk the other way.
Using comparatives and Superlatives
Comparatives and superlatives are very common in everyday English. We use them all the time in a variety of sentences. Listen and look for them when you next use your English.
To hear all these example sentences in context, try watching ‘Climbing Mt. Annupuri’ – and enjoy the beautiful scenery while you improve your English!