Formation of Comparative Adjectives
There are two ways to make or form a comparative adjective:
- short adjectives: add "-er"
- long adjectives: use "more"
Short adjectives | |
| old, fast |
| happy, easy |
Normal rule: add "-er" | old → older |
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r | late → later |
Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant | big → bigger |
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i | happy → happier |
Long adjectives | |
| modern, pleasant |
| expensive, intellectual |
Normal rule: use "more" | modern → more modern expensive → more expensive |
Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
- good → better
- well (healthy) → better
- bad → worse
- far → farther/further
Use of Comparative Adjectives
We use comparative adjectives when talking about 2 things (not 3 or 10 or 1,000,000 things, only 2 things).
Often, the comparative adjective is followed by "than".
Look at these examples:
- John is 1m80. He is tall. But Chris is 1m85. He is taller than John.
- America is big. But Russia is bigger.
- I want to have a more powerful computer.
- Is French more difficult than English?
If we talk about the two planets Earth and Mars, we can compare them as shown in the table below:
Earth | Mars | ||
Diameter (km) | 12,760 | 6,790 | Mars is smaller than Earth. |
Distance from Sun (million km) | 150 | 228 | Mars is more distant from the Sun. |
Length of day (hours) | 24 | 25 | A day on Mars is slightly longer than a day on Earth. |
Moons | 1 | 2 | Mars has more moons than Earth. |
Surface temperature (degrees Celcius) | 22 | -23 | Mars is colder than Earth. |
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