Grammar reference and practice 4.1

4.1 ■ Comparative and superlative adjectives

Spelling rules

• ■For short adjectives, add -er to form the comparative and the + -est for the superlative.

  small → smaller → the smallest

  young → younger → the youngest

  ■For short adjectives ending in -e, add -r or the + -st.

  large → larger → the largest

  cute → cuter → the cutest

  ■For short adjectives ending in vowel + consonant (except -w), double the consonant and add -er or the + -est.

  hot → hotter → the hottest

  wet → wetter → the wettest

  ■For adjectives ending in consonant + -y, remove the -y and add -ier or the + -iest.

  early → earlier → the earliest

  busy → busier → the busiest

  ■For adjectives of two or more syllables (except adjectives ending in -y), add more or the most before the adjective.

  modern → more modern → the most modern

  delicious → more delicious → the most delicious

  ■Some adjectives are irregular, for example:

  good → better → the best

  bad → worse → the worst

  far → farther / further → the farthest / furthest

Use

We use comparative adjectives to compare two people or things. Comparative adjectives are often followed by than.

In the past, houses were darker than they are now.

I think my sister is more intelligent than my brother.

We use superlative adjectives to compare a person or thing with the whole group. We do not use than after superlatives.

The bathroom is the smallest room in our house.

This old castle is the most popular tourist attraction in our town.

1Write the comparative and superlative form of each adjective. 

• 1beautiful

• 2funny

• 3nice

• 4far

• 5dangerous

• 6sad

• 7interesting

• 8bad

• 9wide

• 10clean

• 11dirty

• 12famous

 

2Study the table and write comparative sentences. Use the adjectives in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

	House A	House B
Location	city centre	countryside
Date of building	1965	1925
Height	20 metres	15 metres

• 1House A is  (noisy) House B.

• 2House A is  (modern) House B.

• 3House A is  (big) House B.

• 4House B is  (quiet) House A.

• 5House B is  (old) House A.

• 6House B is  (small) House A.

3Complete the sentences with the superlative form of the adjectives in the box. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

MOVE
• good
• hot
• tidy
• lazy
• expensive
• large

• 1We've got  dog in the world. He just lies on the sofa all day.

• 2 room in our house is the living room, but my parents' bedroom is also quite big.

• 3My computer is  thing I own. It cost a lot of money.

• 4Tom got  exam result in the class. He was very happy about it.

• 5Megan's bedroom is  room in the house because she puts all her things away.

• 6 country in the world is Libya. Temperatures reach up to 57.8°C.