Degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs

Form

1. One-syllable and some two-syllable adjectives and adverbs, that end in –er, -ow take ‘-er’ for the comparative and ‘-est’ for the superlative

Positive degree	Comparative degree	Superlative degree
warm big clever soon	warmer bigger cleverer sooner	warmest biggest* cleverest soonest

* Adjectives which end in one vowel and one consonant double the consonant.

2. Two-syllable adjectives and adverbs that end in –y take ‘-ier’ and ‘-iest’

Positive degree	Comparative degree	Superlative degree
early easy	earlier easier	earliest easiest

3. Two-syllable adjectives and adverbs and longer ones take ‘more’ and ‘most’ (or ‘less’ and ‘least’)

Positive degree	Comparative degree	Superlative degree
careful expensive seriously	more careful more expensive less seriously	most careful most expensive least seriously

4. Some adjectives and adverbs have irregular comparative forms and superlative forms

Positive degree	Comparative degree	Superlative degree
good well	better	best
bad badly	worse	worst
many much	more	most
few little	less	least
far	further (or farther)	furthest (or farthest)

5. We use ‘than’ after comparatives:

• This book is more interesting than that one.

6. When comparing we can also use as…as in positive sentences and questions:

• There’s plenty of food, so eat as much as you like.

• Can you send me the money as soon as possible, please?

We also say twice as…as, three times as…as etc.

• Petrol is twice as expensive as it was a few years ago.

• Their house is about three times as big as ours.

7. We use ‘not as…as’ or ‘not so…as’ in negative sentences:

• Jack isn’t as old as he looks. (= he looks older than he is).

• I don’t know as many people as you do (= you know more people).

• Henry isn’t so rich as Joe.

8. We say the same as (not ‘the same like’)

• Ann’s salary is the same as mine (or Ann gets the same salary as me).

9. After ‘than’ and ‘as’ it is more usual to say me / him / them / us when there is no verb. Compare these sentences:

• You are taller than I am. but You are taller than me.

• I can’t run as fast as he can. but I can’t run as fast as him.

10. Before the comparative of adjectives and adverbs you can use:

a bit, a little, much, a lot, far

• Let’s go by car. It’s much (or a lot) cheaper.

• Don’t go by train. It’s much (or a lot) more expensive.

• Could you speak a bit (or a little) more slowly?

11. a) Older and elder (not common in American speech)

The comparative of old is older

• Tom looks older than he really is.

We use elder when we are talking about members of a family.

We say (my) elder brother / sister / son /

We use elder only before a noun:

• My brother is older than me but My elder brother is a pilot.

b) The superlative of old is eldest (or oldest)

• That house over there is the oldest building in the town.

We use eldest talking about the members of a family.

• My eldest son is 13 years old.

• Are you the eldest in your family?

12. Sometimes you can use two comparatives together. For example: harder and harder, more and more, more and more difficult. We use this structure to say that something is changing continuously:

• It’s becoming harder and harder to find a job.

• These days more and more people are learning English.

13. Note the structure the + comparative the better. For example:

• ‘What time shall we leave?’ ‘The sooner the better’

We also use the … the… (with two comparatives) to say that one thing depends on another thing:

• The warmer the weather, the better I feel.

• The more expensive the hotel, the better the service.

• The more you have, the more you want.

14. We use ‘the’ in front of superlatives.

• What is the longest river in the world?

15. After superlatives, we use in with places (towns, buildings etc.):

• We were lucky to have one of the nicest rooms in the hotel (not ‘of the hotel’).

Also: (the best…) in the class / in the team / in the company etc.

But: the happiest day of my life,

the hottest day of the year.

Exercises