English Grammar

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Forms of adjectives for comparison

Comparative adjectives are used to compare two things or people to

each other.

A bus is bigger than a car.

 Bill is older than Harry.

Superlative adjectives are used to compare one member of a group

to the whole group.

 The Nile is the longest river in the world.

 In our class Maria is the oldest and Charlie is the youngest.

Formation of comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

Form Adjective Comparative Superlative

One syllable long longer than the longest

Add : -er / -est to nice nicer than the nicest
the adjective. hot hotter than the hottest

Two or more interesting more interesting the most interesting

syllables practical than the least interesting
Add: more- less practical than
less or most-least
before the
adjective.

Two syllables funny funnier than the funniest

ending in -y easy easier than the easiest
The 'y' becomes 'i' happy happier than the happiest
before -er/-est

Irregular good better than the best

Adjectives bad worse than the worst
much/many more than the most
 little less than the least
far farther/further than the farthest/furthest

Please note:
1) Some two-syllable adjectives have two possible forms of comparison, for example:

 commoner/more common
 likelier/more likely
 politer/more polite
 simpler/more simple
 stupider/more stupid
 subtler/more subtle

2) Adjectives ending with a vowel and a consonant double the consonant, for example:

 big bigger biggest

except when the consonant is 'w' or 'y' :

 new newer newest

Type of Basic
Comparative Superlative Rule
Adjective Form
one-syllable clean cleaner the cleanest add -er/-est

one-syllable
nice nicer the nicest add -r/-st
ending in -e

one-syllable double the

ending in vowel hot hotter the hottest final consonant then
+ consonant add -er/-est
two-syllable remove -y and add -ier/-
easy easier the easiest
ending in -y iest
the most more/the most + basic
multi-syllable difficult more difficult
difficult adjective
Special cases & exceptions
Some adjectives do not follow the rules when they build
their comparative and superlative forms:
Irregular comparatives & superlatives

A handful of adjectives have completely irregular comparative and

superlative forms:

Basic Adjective Comparative Superlative

bad worse the worst
far further/farther* the furthest/the farthest*
good better the best
little less the least
much/many more the most

*Further or farther?

When we talk about distance, both further/farther are possible.

However, when we mean extra or additional, we can only use further.

Examples:
Newcastle is further/farther north than York.
but: If you need further information, please get in touch.
not: farther information
One-syllable adjectives ending in -ed

Unlike other one-syllable adjectives, those that end in -ed form their
comparative and superlative forms with more/the most, not with -er/-
est.

Examples:
bored – more bored – the most bored
not: boreder – boredest
scared – more scared – the most scared
 not: scareder – scaredest
Adjectives with two comparative and superlative forms

Some adjectives have two forms in the comparative and superlative:

one with -er/-est and one with more/the most. These are usually
adjectives that end in an unstressed vowel.

Example:
clever – cleverer – the cleverest
or: clever – more clever – the most clever

Other such adjectives include: polite, narrow, quiet, shallow, simple …

Older vs. elder

The adjective old has two possible forms in the comparative and
superlative:

Example:
old – older/elder – the oldest/the eldest

We can use older/the oldest in all contexts.

Examples:
Diane is my older sister.
She is older than me.
The church is the oldest building in town.

In contrast, we only use elder/the eldest as attributive adjectives

(placed directly before a noun) to refer to people, usually in the
context of family relationships.

Examples:
Diane is my elder sister.
She is the eldest child in the family.
This means that we can only use older and not elder in comparisons
with than, nor can we use elder/the eldest to refer to places, concepts
or things.

Examples:
Diane is my older/elder sister. She’s the oldest/eldest child in the
family.
but: Diane is older than me.
not: Diane is elder than me.
The church is the oldest building in town.
not: The church is the eldest building in town.

Using comparatives in a sentence

When we compare two things, we use the connector than.

Example:
Canada is bigger than China.
Pronouns after than

When a pronoun follows than, we usually use an object pronoun in

everyday language (me, you, him, her, us, them):

Examples:
Paul is older than her.
Soraya is taller than him.

In formal situations, we can use than + subject pronoun (I, you, he,
she, we, they) + help verb. The help verb changes according to
the verb and the tense.

Examples:
Paul is older than she is.
Soraya looks younger than he does.
 Jenny was more helpful than you were.

Remember: a subject pronoun cannot stand alone after than.

Examples:
Paul is older than she is.
not: Paul is older than she.
Comparatives with the … the

To show that two things have a parallel relationship or that one thing
depends on another, we use the structure the + comparative, the +
comparative. This appears in many common sayings:

Examples:
The sooner, the better.
The more, the merrier.

Using superlatives in a sentence

Superlatives and prepositions

Superlative adjectives are often followed by a preposition:

 use of before time periods and plural nouns

Examples:
It was the most popular book of the year.
Bella is the most helpful of my colleagues.
 use in before places and singular nouns that refer to groups
Examples:
The cafe is the best in town.
This is the most valuable piece in his collection.
 use on with the nouns team and earth
Examples:
Sophie is the best player on the team.
 It’s the most expensive substance on earth.
Superlatives and the present perfect

Superlative adjectives often appear in sentences with the present

perfect simple.

Examples:
Thailand is the furthest I’ve travelled.
It’s the most interesting place I’ve visited.

We can use ever for emphasis.

Example:
It’s the most interesting place I’ve ever visited.

Although we can place that between the superlative and

the present perfect, this is usually omitted in everyday language.

Example:
It’s the most interesting place that I’ve ever visited.

Comparisons with basic adjectives

We can also make comparisons using the basic form of
the adjective rather than the comparative.
Comparisons with as … as

To say that two things are the same, we can use (just) as … as.

Examples:
Today, a large coffee is (just) as cheap as a small one.
= they are the same price

To say that two things are different, we use not as … as.

Example:
Normally, a large coffee is not as cheap as a small one.

Remember: we use the basic form of the adjective after as, not the
comparative form.

Example:
Today, a large coffee is just as cheap as a small one.
not: just as cheaper as

If a pronoun follows as, we use the same rules as with than (see
above).

Example:
Mark is just as tall as Jessica. = Mark is just as tall as her / she
is.
Comparisons with less … than

With multi-syllable adjectives, we can use less … than instead of not

as … as.

Example:
The film is less complicated than the book.
= The film is not as complicated as the book.

However: we can’t use less … than with one-syllable adjectives.

Example:
The film is not as long as the book.
not: The film is less long than the book.