Type: reference material

Article on ways to approach teaching comparatives and superlatives.

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Anchor Point:introIntroduction

One way of describing a person or thing is by saying that they have more of a particular quality than someone or something else. To do this, we use comparative adjectives, which are formed either by adding -er at the end of the adjective, or placing more before it, e.g:

It is also possible to describe someone or something by saying that they have more of a particular quality than any other of their kind. We do this by using superlative adjectives, which are formed by adding -est at the end of the adjective and placing the before it, or placing the most before the adjective, e.g.:

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Anchor Point:11. Some rules about forming comparatives and superlatives

(i) one syllable adjectives generally form the comparative by adding -er and the superlative by adding -est, e.g.:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
soft	softer	the softest
cheap	cheaper	the cheapest
sweet	sweeter	the sweetest
thin	thinner	the thinnest

• Note that if a one syllable adjective ends in a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter, the consonant letter is doubled, e.g.: thin → thinner, big → biggest.
• If an adjective ends in -e, this is removed when adding -er/-est, e.g.: wide → wider/widest.
• If an adjective ends in a consonant followed by -y, -y is replaced by -i when adding -er/-est, e.g.: dry → drier/driest.

(ii) more and most are sometimes used with one syllable adjectives as an alternative to the -er/-est form when we particularly want to emphasize the comparison, or if the adjective occurs with another adjective which has more than one syllable, e.g.:

(iii) two syllable adjectives which end in -y usually form the comparative by adding -er and the superlative by adding -est, (note the change of -y to -i in the comparative/superlative) e.g.:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
lucky	luckier	the luckiest
pretty	prettier	the prettiest
tidy	tidier	the tidiest

(iv) two syllable adjectives ending in -ed, -ing, -ful, or -less always form the comparative with more and the superlative with most, e.g.:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
worried	more worried	the most worried
boring	more boring	the most boring
careful	more careful	the most careful
useless	more useless	the most useless

As a general rule, most other two syllable adjectives also form comparatives and superlatives with more and most, apart from those ending in -y (see (iii) above). However a few two-syllable adjectives can take either -er/-est or more/most. Here are five of the most common examples:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
common	commoner/more common	the commonest/most common
narrow	narrower/more narrow	the narrowest/most narrow
pleasant	pleasanter/more pleasant	the pleasantest/most pleasant
useless	more useless	the most useless
simple	simpler/more simple	the simplest/most simple
quiet	quieter/more quiet	the quietest/most quiet

(v) Adjectives which have three or more syllables always form the comparative and superlative with more and most, e.g.:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
dangerous	more dangerous	the most dangerous
difficult	more difficult	the most difficult
exciting	more exciting	the most exciting
ridiculous	more ridiculous	the most ridiculous

The only exceptions are some three syllable adjectives which have been formed by adding the prefix -un to another adjective, especially those formed from an adjective ending in -y. These adjectives can form comparatives and superlatives by using more/most or adding -er/-est, e.g.:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
unhappy	unhappier	the unhappiest/most unhappy
unpleasant	unpleasanter	the unpleasantest/most unpleasant

(vi) The following adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	the best
bad	worse	the worst
far	farther/further	the farthest/furthest

The adjectives ill and well, describing bad and good health, have irregular comparative forms. The comparative of ill is worse, and the comparative of well is better, e.g.: She’s feeling much better/worse today.

The usual comparative and superlative forms of the adjective old are older and oldest. However the alternative forms elder and eldest are sometimes used. Elder and eldest are generally restricted to talking about the age of people, especially people within the same family, and are not used to talk about the age of things, e.g.:

Elder cannot occur in the predicative position after link verbs such as be, become, get etc., e.g.:

(vii) Comparatives and superlatives of compound adjectives are generally formed by using more and most, e.g.:

Some compound adjectives have a first element consisting of an adjective which would normally form a comparative or superlative in one word, either by adding -er/-est, or by an irregular form. Such compound adjectives can therefore form a comparative/superlative by using these changes to the first adjective, rather than by using more/most, e.g.:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good-looking	better-looking	the best-looking
long-lasting	longer-lasting	the longest-lasting
low-paid	lower-paid	the lowest-paid

(viii) Some adjectives which already have a comparative or superlative meaning do not usually occur with -er/-est or more/most, unless we want to give special emphasis, often for humorous effect, e.g.:

Common examples of adjectives like these are: complete, equal, favourite, and perfect.

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Anchor Point:2

2. Use of comparatives 

Just like other adjectives, comparatives can be placed before nouns in the attributive position, e.g.:

Comparatives can also occur after be and other link verbs, e.g.:

Comparatives are very commonly followed by than and a pronoun or noun group, in order to describe who the other person or thing involved in the comparison is, e.g.:

As well as pronouns and noun groups, than is often followed by other kinds of clause, e.g.:

Comparatives are often qualified by using words and phrases such as much, a lot, far, a bit/little, slightly etc., e.g.:

Two comparatives can be contrasted by placing the before them, indicating that a change in one quality is linked to a change in another, e.g.:

Two comparatives can also be linked with and to show a continuing increase in a particular quality, e.g.:

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Anchor Point:33. Use of superlatives

Like comparatives, superlatives can be placed before nouns in the attributive position, or occur after be and other link verbs, e.g.:

As shown in the second two examples, superlatives are often used on their own if it is clear what or who is being compared. If you want to be specific about what you are comparing, you can do this with a noun, or a phrase beginning with in or of, e.g.:

Another way of being specific is by placing a relative clause after the superlative, e.g.:

Note that if the superlative occurs before the noun, in the attributive position, the in or of phrase or relative clause comes after the noun, cf:

Although the usually occurs before a superlative, it is sometimes left out in informal speech or writing, e.g.:

However the cannot be left out when the superlative is followed by an of/in phrase, or a relative clause indicating the group of people or things being compared, e.g.:

Sometimes possessive pronouns are used instead of the before a superlative, e.g.:

Ordinal numbers are often used with superlatives to indicate that something has more of a particular quality than most others of its kind, e.g.:

In informal conversation, superlatives are often used instead of comparatives when comparing two things. For example, when comparing a train journey and car journey to Edinburgh, someone might say: The train is quickest, rather than: The train is quicker. Superlatives are not generally used in this way in formal speech and writing.

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Anchor Point:44. The opposites of comparative and superlative forms

Comparative and superlative forms with -er/-est and more/most are always used to talk about a quality which is greater in amount relative to others. If we want to talk about a quality which is smaller in amount relative to others, we use the forms less (the opposite of comparative more), and the least (the opposite of superlative the most). Less is used to indicate that something or someone does not have as much of a particular quality as someone or something else, e.g.:

The least is used to indicate that something or someone has less of a quality than any other person or thing of its kind, e.g.: