Comparatives and Superlatives to English Grammar

When learning English it is important to be familiar with the use of the correct English Grammar.

This saves you embarrassment from talking inappropriately and also helps you gain confidence as an English learner.

The focus of this article will be on comparatives and superlatives.

Comparative Adjectives

We begin by defining adjectives, these are words used in modifying nouns and giving more description of the noun.

Comparative adjectives are words used in the comparison of two things, objects or persons, generally nouns.

They help in description of the noun in the following terms, (higher, bigger faster, taller, smaller).

The adjectives usually take this format;

Noun which is the subject followed by a verb then a comparative adjective and the use of than finally the use of a noun which is considered as the object.

Therefore Noun (subject) + verb+ comparative adjective+ than+ noun (subject)

Example of a sentence; the goalkeeper kicked the ball higher than any player in the team.

The name of the second noun which is the object can be done away with, if you had previously described the noun in other phrases. Or if it can be clearly seen from the content what or who the noun is. For example;

Karen bought that pencil yesterday but my pencil is sharper than hers or

My house is bigger than yours.

My car is faster than his.

The dog ran faster than him

His bag is bigger than her purse.

Superlative Adjectives

In the description of the quality of a person, object or thing, superlative adjectives are the most appropriate grammatical phrases to be used.

They elaborate more on the higher or lower quality of a subject noun that is being talked about.

Their use is most common when describing an object in a comparison to a class of other objects.

They take the following format.

You begin with the noun as the subject followed by the verb then the superlative adjective and finally with another noun as the object. Thus;

Noun (subject) + verb+ superlative adjective+ another noun which is the object

My cat is the biggest one in the estate.

That mountain is the tallest in the whole country.

This is the smallest dog I have ever encountered in my life.

We were throwing kites in the air, but mine flew the highest (note that here we are referring to the kite).

It is not mandatory for you to mention the object at the beginning so long as the person to whom you are speaking to is aware of the object that is being talked about.

In the event that it is not recognizable as to what is being talked about you can mention the noun object again.

How to Form Normal Superlatives and Comparatives?

This is an easy process and is solely dependent on the format of the adjective that has been chosen to be used.

The syllables of the adjective are also very important.

For comparatives it is advisable to add an ‘er’ at the end while for superlatives add an ‘est’ at the end of the word.

In the event that the adjective ends with a vowel followed by a consonant, then it is recommended that you add another consonant then add either the superlative or the comparative.

For example;

Big –Bigger, Biggest

Fat- Fatter, Fattest

You can also describe the adjective further by adding the words more or most, with comparatives more suited to the former and superlatives more suited to the latter.

This is in case you are not very sure.

For example;

More bigger, most suited, more tilted, most tilted, more courageous, most welcome, more bigger, more smaller, more larger, more cold, more colder, most cringed, more disgusted

For those adjectives that have syllables ranging from three upwards you can form a comparative adjective by adding more at the preceding part of the adjective and by putting most at the most preceding part of the superlative. For example

Crucial, most crucial, more crucial

Exorbitant, more exorbitant, most exorbitant

Irregular Comparatives and Superlatives

These very common adjectives have completely irregular comparative and superlative forms.

Good, better, best.

Bad, worse, worst.

Yesterday was the worst day I have had in years.

You play handball better than he does.

This is the most exorbitant price for a car I have ever seen.

This car is more expensive than that one over there.

I walked a bit more last week, but today I felt I walked the most.