Study materials
The adjective tall describes one person. To compare two, a tail is added to it.
Tom is tall.
Tom is taller than Leo.
Tom is the tallest in the class.
There are only two steps: more than one other, and more than all of them. What remains is learning to build the two tails.
Er for short words
Short adjectives take er, and the other participant is attached with than.
| Adjective | Comparative | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| small | smaller | er simply added |
| nice | nicer | the e was there, so only r |
| big | bigger | the consonant doubled |
| happy | happier | y became i |
This bag is cheaper than that one.
More for long ones
Long adjectives take no ending. A separate word, more, goes in front of them instead.
This book is more interesting than that one.
The main thing is never to join the two methods in one word. Either er or more, never both.
The superlative and the article the
When you single one out from three or more, the same split applies. Short words take est, long ones take most, and the always stands in front.
| Plain form | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| fast | faster | the fastest |
| beautiful | more beautiful | the most beautiful |
This is the fastest train in the country.
Three words you have to know
A few of the commonest adjectives obey no rules at all.
good → better → the best
bad → worse → the worst
far → further → the furthest
As ... as for equals
If the quality is the same in both, the adjective is left unchanged and packed between two instances of as.
My room is as bright as yours.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is building the comparison twice.
He is more taller. → He is taller.
The second is losing the article in the superlative.
She is best student. → She is the best student.
The third is building an exception by the rule.
This is gooder. → This is better.
All three are caught by one look at the word. How many times is the comparison expressed in it? It should be exactly once, and in exactly one way.
Try it right now
Take two people or two things and compare them in English in one sentence with er or more.
Then add a second sentence in the superlative. Check that the is in it.