Adjectives, Articles, and Proper Adjectives Continue
The Comparison of Adjectives
The Comparative Form
To compare two people or things, use the comparative form of an adjective. The comparative form is usually made by adding er to the adjective.
adjective comparative form adjective comparative form
dark darker hard harder
light lighter warm warmer
high higher cold colder
low lower fast faster
old older slow slower
young younger
rich richer
poor poorer
tall taller
small smaller
soft softer
The Superlative Form
When you compare three or more people or things, use the superlative form of an adjective. The superlative form is usually made by adding est to the adjective.
adjective superlative form adjective superlative form
dark darkest warm warmest
light lightest cold coldest
high highest fast fastest
low lowest slow slowest
old oldest
young youngest
rich richest
poor poorest
tall tallest
small smallest
soft softest
hard hardest
The word the is often used before the superlative form.
For example:
A bee is a small insect. A ladybird is smaller, but an ant is the smallest.
The word than is often used to compare two things or people.
For example, you say: Mr. Lee is taller than Philip.
A car is faster than a bike.
Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
A few adjectives don’t form their comparative and superlative forms in any of the usual ways. The comparative and superlative forms of these adjectives are different words, called irregular forms.
adjective comparative superlative
good better best
bad worse worst
little less least
many more most
far farther or further farthest or furthest
For example:
My painting is good, Melanie’s painting is better, but Andrew’s painting is the best.
Adjective Phrases
Phrases can be used like single adjectives to describe nouns and pronouns.
Phrases that are used in this way are called adjective phrases.
Most adjective phrases come after the word they describe. Look at these examples. The adjective phrases are in bold and the nouns they describe are in color.
Who is the girl with long hair?
My friend lives in the house across the street.
Mrs. Morris is tall and slim.
This is the road to Toledo.
The lady in the bookshop is a friend of mine.
Some adjective phrases come before the word they describe.
The words in these phrases are often joined with hyphens.
a long-legged bird an eight-year-old child
a well-dressed lady a ten-cent coin
a fun-loving teenager a twenty-story building
user-friendly equipment a large-sized shirt