English 5: Using Adjectives in Comparison

1. Using the
Comparative Degrees
of Adjectives
Beautiful More Beautiful Most
Beautiful

2. The car is big.
The van is bigger.
The truck is biggest among the three.

3. Jena is intelligent.
Rose is more intelligent than
Jena.
Gail is the most intelligent among the three.

4. Positive Degree Comparative
Degree
Superlative Degree
- Describe only one
thing or person
- Comparing two
persons or things
- Comparing three or
more persons or
things
The car is big. The van is bigger
than the car.
The truck is biggest
among the three.
Jena is intelligent. Rose is more
intelligent than Jena.
Gail is the most
intelligent among the
three.
Adjectives or describing words change form to show degrees
of comparison which are positive, comparative, and superlative.

5. Adjectives of one syllable
▪ Adjectives of one syllable add -er and -est.
▪ Adjectives ending on 'e' just add -r and -st.
▪ Some adjectives double the final consonant.
Positive Comparative
Superlativ
e
small
warm
old
nice
big
smaller
warmer
older
nicer
bigger
smallest
warmest
oldest
nicest
biggest

6. Adjectives of two syllables
▪ Some adjectives of two syllables add -er and -est.
▪ For adjectives ending in 'y‘ – cut y then add -ier and -iest.
▪ Adjectives ending in -ful, -less, -ing, -ed use more and
most.
▪ Some other adjectives of two syllables use more and most
(modern, famous, normal, correct, ...).Positive Comparative Superlative
narrow
happy
useful
boring
modern
narrower
happier
more useful
more boring
more modern
narrowest
happiest
most useful
most boring
most modern

7. Adjectives of three or more syllables
▪ Adjectives of three or more syllables use more and
most.
Positive Comparative Superlative
beautiful
dangerous
exciting
more beautiful
more dangerous
more exciting
most beautiful
most dangerous
most exciting

8. Note:
Some adjectives canot be compared because of their
meanings.
Example: round, perfect, whole, complete
Never use more, most, less and least with the words to
which _er and est have been added
Example: He is more taller than I (wrong)
He is taller than I (correct)
Use than and other with the comparative degree only.
Use the article the only before an adjective in the superlative
degree
Example: My teacher is the oldest teacher in our school.

10. Exercise #1: complete the chart by supplying the missing form of the adjectives.
Example: great greater greatest
Positive Comparative Superlative
1.Studious
2. Gentle
3. Hungrier
4. High
5. Famous
6. Prettiest
7. Worse
8. Better
9. Dangerous
10. Far

11. Exercise #2: Decide which adjective correctly completes each sentence. Then rewrite the sentence.
Example: Tony is a (slower, slowest) runner than Anna.
Answer: Tony is a slower runner than Anna.
1. Our members are the (more fearless, most fearless).
2. The Rockets are (more gracious, most gracious) than us.
3. Roy is (taller, tallest) than Ben and gets more rebounds.
4. Mark is the (more daring, most daring) player in the court.
5. He is also the (more loyal, most loyal) player we have.
6. Of all the players, Cris is the (older, oldest)
7. Our (more difficult, most difficult) game is on Saturday.
8. We play the (more dynamic, most dynamic) tea of all.
9. It will be the (tougher, toughest) game of the season.
10.Our basketball team is called the (more dangerous, most
dangerous) in the league.

12. Exercise #3: Rewrite the following using the correct form of the adjectives
in parenthesis.
1. The (small) fish in the world is found in the Philippines.
2. Tabios is even (tiny) than anchovy or dilis.
3. Is there any place (hot) than Death Valley.
4. Libya has the (high) temperature of all.
5. If you like the sun, the Sahara is (good) place to be.
6. If you don’t, it is (bad) place to be.
7. The Gobi desert has (little) rainfall than the Sahara.
8. For me, the cat would be a (good) pet than the dog.
9. The cat is (easy) to manage because it is (small).
10.However, the dog might be (useful) than the cat because it
can do (big) chores like hoarding the house.

13. Exercise #4: Fill in the correct forms of adjectives.