Comparative and Superlative

1. Forming comparatives and superlatives

How these forms are created depends on how many syllables there are in the adjective. Syllables are like “sound beats”. For instance, “sing” contains one syllable, but “singing” contains two — sing and ing. Here are the rules:

Adjective form	Comparative	Superlative
Only one syllable, ending in E. Examples: wide, fine, cute	Add -r: wider, finer, cuter	Add -st: widest, finest, cutest
Only one syllable, with one vowel and one consonant at the end. Examples: hot, big, fat	Double the consonant, and add -er: hotter, bigger, fatter	Double the consonant, and add -est: hottest, biggest, fattest
Only one syllable, with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end. Examples: light, neat, fast	Add -er: lighter, neater, faster	Add -est: lightest, neatest, fastest
Two syllables, ending in Y. Examples: happy, silly, lonely	Change y to i, then add -er: happier, sillier, lonelier	Change y to i, then add -est: happiest, silliest, loneliest
Two syllables or more, not ending in Y. Examples: modern, interesting, beautiful	Use “more” before the adjective: more modern, more interesting, more beautiful	Use “most” before the adjective: most modern, most interesting, most beautiful

2. How to use comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives	Comparatives are used to compare two things. You can use sentences with “than”, or you can use a conjunction like “but”. Jiro is taller than Yukio. Yukio is tall, but Jiro is taller.
Superlatives	Superlatives are used to compare more than two things. Superlative sentences usually use “the”, because there is only one superlative. Masami is the tallest in the class. Yukio is tall, and Jiro is taller, but Masami is the tallest.

 Escribe el comparativoEj. small - smaller

1. good 
2. intelligent 
3. old 
4. dark 
5. bad 
6. large 
7. narrow 
8. new 
9. easy 
10. funny 

- Completa las frases usando un comparativo.

Ej. My flat isn’t very big.- I want a bigger flat.

1. My motorbike isn’t very fast. I’d like .
2. My husband isn’t very rich. I need .
3. Your computer is getting old now. You need .
4. His camera isn’t very good. He needs .
5. It isn’t very hot today. It was  yesterday.
6. I’m not very interested in football. I’m  in tennis.

- Escribe frases que signifiquen lo mismo usando ‘as………as’.
Ej. A Porsche is faster than a Skoda. – A Skoda isn’t as fast as a Porsche.

1. Football is more popular than cricket in Spain.
Cricket isn’t 
2. I work harder than you.

3. My car’s newer than yours.

4. His watch is more expensive than hers.

5. Your flat’s nicer than ours.

6. Paris is colder than Casablanca.

- Completa las frases con un superlativo.

Ej. He’s a very good footballer. He’s the best footballer in Europe at the moment.

1. She’s a pretty girl. She’s girl in my class.
2. There are many exciting cities in North America, but I think New York is .
3. August is a hot month in Spain. It’s usually  month of the year.
4. I was so happy when I got married. My wedding day was day of my life.
5. It’s such an expensive restaurant. I think it’s the  restaurant in Madrid.
6. It’s a very interesting book. It’s one of the  books I’ve ever read.