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Adjectives. Degrees of comparison. Comparison of adjectives.

Adjectives.

Degrees of comparison.

Comparison of adjectives.

Most descriptive adjectives can show degree of quality or quantity by forming two degrees of comparison: the comparative degree and the superlative degree.

These degrees are formed from the positive degree, which is the usual form of adjectives. The comparative and superlative forms can be simple (bigger, biggest) or compound (more attentive, most attentive).

The comparative degree and the superlative degree are formed by adding the suffixes ER and EST to the positive form of the adjective or by using MORE and MOST before the positive form of the adjective.

The choice of ER, EST or MORE, MOST depends mostly on the number of syllables in the adjective.

Positive degree: bright; important.

Comparative degree: brighter; more important.

Superlative degree: brightest; most important.

An adjective in the comparative or superlative form can stand before the noun that it modifies or after the verb BE in the predicative.

Try an easier exercise.

This exercise is easier.

As a rule, the definite article is required before the superlative form of the adjective:

the nearest hospital; the largest room.

Monosyllabic adjectives

One-syllable adjectives form the comparative and superlative degrees by adding the suffixes ER, EST:

black, blacker, blackest; cheap, cheaper, cheapest; clear, clearer, clearest; cold, colder, coldest;

green, greener, greenest; high, higher, highest; large, larger, largest; long, longer, longest; loud, louder, loudest; new, newer, newest; nice, nicer, nicest; poor, poorer, poorest; rich, richer, richest; short, shorter, shortest; slow, slower, slowest; soft, softer, softest; sweet, sweeter, sweetest; tall, taller, tallest; tough, tougher, toughest; warm, warmer, warmest; wise, wiser, wisest.

Anna is tall. Ella is taller than her sister. Maria is the tallest girl in her class.

My house is smaller than your house.Your car is larger than mine. Moscow is the largest city in Russia.

Disyllabic adjectives

Most two-syllable adjectives, including adjectives ending in the suffixes "al, ant, ent, ish, ive, ic, ous, ful, less", form the comparative and superlative degrees with the help of MORE, MOST:

active, more active, most active; careless, more careless, most careless; distant, more distant, most distant; eager, more eager, most eager; famous, more famous, most famous; foolish, more foolish, most foolish; formal, more formal, most formal; modern, more modern, most modern; private, more private, most private; recent, more recent, most recent; secure, more secure, most secure; tragic, more tragic, most tragic; useful, more useful, most useful.

Amore distant object seems to be smaller than a closer object.

Laura is more selfish thanAnita.

Two-syllable adjectives ending in "y, er, ow" usually form the comparative and superlative degrees by adding ER, EST:

angry, angrier, angriest; busy, busier, busiest; crazy, crazier, craziest; dirty, dirtier, dirtiest; easy, easier, easiest; early, earlier, earliest; funny, funnier, funniest; happy, happier, happiest; heavy, heavier, heaviest; lucky, luckier, luckiest; noisy, noisier, noisiest;pretty, prettier,prettiest; silly, sillier,silliest; sunny, sunnier, sunniest; ugly, uglier, ugliest; clever, cleverer, cleverest; narrow, narrower, narrowest.

Your repair work will be much easier if you use a good set of tools.

My dog is the cleverest dog in the whole world.

Two-syllable adjectives ending in "y, er, ow" often have variants with MORE, MOST:

lazy, lazier / more lazy, laziest / most lazy; fancy, fancier / more fancy, fanciest / most fancy;

friendly, friendlier / more friendly, friendliest / most friendly; lovely, lovelier / more lovely, loveliest / most lovely; risky, riskier / more risky, riskiest / most risky; clever, cleverer / more clever, cleverest / most clever;

slender, slenderer / more slender, slenderest / most slender; tender, tenderer / more tender, tenderest / most tender; shallow, shallower / more shallow, shallowest / most shallow; yellow, yellower / more yellow, yellowest / most yellow.

The choice of ER, EST or MORE, MOST in the case of disyllabic adjectives ending in "y, er, ow" depends to some extent on preferences in usage, on what sounds better or more natural to an English speaker in the given sentence.

On the whole, variants formed with the help of ER, EST are more traditional and more widely used than those with MORE, MOST.

Spelling note

If an adjective ends in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, the consonant is doubled before adding ER, EST:

big, bigger, biggest; fat, fatter, fattest; hot, hotter, hottest; red, redder, reddest; sad, sadder, saddest; thin, thinner, thinnest;

wet, wetter, wettest.

If an adjective ends in mute E, the letter E is dropped before adding ER, EST:

blue, bluer, bluest; brave, braver, bravest; close, closer, closest; fine, finer, finest; pale, paler, palest; rude, ruder, rudest; simple, simpler, simplest; wide, wider, widest.

If an adjective ends inY preceded by a consonant,Y is changed to I before adding ER, EST:

busy, busier, busiest; dry, drier, driest; happy, happier,happiest;lucky, luckier, luckiest; sleepy, sleepier,sleepiest;scary, scarier,scariest.

Note: sly, slier, sliest OR slyer, slyest.

Adjectives of three or more syllables

Adjectives consisting of three or more syllables form the comparative and superlative degrees by using MORE, MOST before the adjective:

beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful; comfortable, more comfortable, most comfortable; curious, more curious, most curious; dangerous, more dangerous, most dangerous; difficult, more difficult, most difficult; expensive, more expensive, most expensive; important, more important, most important; intelligent, more intelligent, most intelligent; interesting, more interesting, most interesting; successful, more successful, most successful.

This book is interesting. This book is more interesting than that one.

This book is the most interesting of all the books that I have read recently. This is the most interesting book I have ever read.

John has a difficult task. My task is more difficult than John's task.

I have a more difficult task. The most difficult task will be discussed tomorrow.

Adjectives formed from participles

Adjectives formed from participles form the comparative and superlative forms with the help of MORE, MOST irrespective of the number of the syllables:

annoying, more annoying, most annoying; boring, more boring, most boring; hurt, more hurt, most hurt; pleased, more pleased, most pleased; surprised, more surprised, most surprised; tired, more tired, most tired; worried, more worried, most worried.

I can't think of a more boring subject of conversation.

She seems more worried today.

He is the most annoying person I know.

Comparative adjectives: using much, a lot, far, etc.

We can strengthen or emphasise a comparative adjective using words such as much, a lot, far, even or rather, or by using than ever after the adjective:

This food is much better than the food we had yesterday. The town is a lot more crowded these days because of the new shopping centre.

Alex is far less intelligent than the other kids in the class.

We can soften a comparative adjective using a little or a bit. Abit is less formal:

She feels a little more confident now that she’s given her first public performance.

or She feels a bit more confident… (less formal)

Comparative adjectives:

the -er, the -er and the more …, the more …

If a person or things gains more of a particular quality and this causes a parallel increase of another quality, we can repeat the + a comparative adjective:

The colder it is, the hungrier I get.

(as the weather gets colder, I get hungrier) The more gorgeous you are towards others, the more gorgeous they are likely to be towards you.

Emphasising superlative adjectives

We can make a superlative adjective stronger with by far, easily or of all:

The Beatles were by far the most successful rock band of the 1960s. This method is by far the least complicated.

In more formal situations, we can use quite:

This is quite the most irresponsible behaviour I have ever seen.

Prepositions after superlative adjectives

We don’t normally use of before a singular name of a place or group after a superlative adjective:

The castle is the oldest building in the city. Not: The castle is the oldest building of the city … She’s the youngest musician in the orchestra.

However, we can use of with a plural word referring to a group:

All the sisters are pretty, but Sarah’s the prettiest of them all.

Uncomparable adjectives

Some adjectives should not be used in either the comparative or the superlative degree because, logically, their meaning does not admit of comparison.

Such adjectives are sometimes called absolute adjectives.

Examples of uncomparable adjectives:

absent, absolute, chief, complete, contemporary, daily, dead, essential, eternal, excellent, empty, full, entire, fatal, final, honest, impossible, infinite, inevitable, ideal, junior, meaningless, perfect, main, major, minor, round, sufficient, supreme, senior, square, unique, universal, utmost, vital, weekly, whole, wooden, worthless, wrong.

If it is necessary for you to make some kind of comparison of such adjectives, use "almost, nearly, quite" with them, for example, "almost perfect; almost empty; nearly full; quite sufficient".

You can also use the constructions "as...as" or "not as...as" described at the end of this article.

Note: In everyday speech, phrases like "emptier than; more complete than; more correct than; more honest than; more perfect", etc., are sometimes used.

He looks more dead than alive.

Karl is more honest than Bart.

Now you are more wrong than ever.

Irregular adjectives

Several adjectives have irregular forms of the comparative and superlative degrees: good, better, best; bad, worse, worst; many/much, more, most; little, less (lesser), least; far, farther, farthest; far, further, furthest.

The adjectives "ill" and "well" (referring to health) have the same comparative and superlative forms as the adjectives "bad" and "good":

ill, worse, worst; well, better, best.

Is he well? Is he ill? He felt worse yesterday.

He feels better today.

The hotel was better than we expected.

This is the best layer cake I've ever had.

His health is becoming worse.

Her examination paper was the worst in class.

I bought many books.

Mike bought more books than I did. Nick bought the most books.

I don't have much work today.

Mike has more work than I do.

Nick has the most work to do today.

He spent less money than you.

She has the least time of all of them.

Set expressions

There are quite a few set expressions containing the comparative or superlative forms of irregular adjectives.

For example: a change for the better; a change for the worse; at best / at the best; at most / at the most; at worst / at the worst; get the worst of it; go from bad to worse;

if worst comes to worst / if the worst comes to the worst; last but not least; more or less; none the less; not in the least; prepare for the worst; so much the better; so much the worse.

If he leaves, so much the better.

If he doesn't want to obey the rules, so much the worse for him.