Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997
75 Comparatives and superlatives (1): He's taller than me. She’s the tallest
Quick reference
Comparative and superlative forms
• One-syllable adjectives
short/shorter/(the) shortest
big/bigger/(the) biggest
dry/drier/(the) driest
• Most two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, -le, -er, -ow
dirty/dirtier/(the) dirtiest
simple/simpler/(the) simplest
clever/cleverer/(the) cleverest
• Other two-syllable adjectives normally form their comparative and superlative like this.
honest/more honest/(the) most honest
• Three syllables or more:
intelligent/more intelligent/(the) most intelligent
• A few adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms.
good/better/(the) best
far/farther/the farthest
OR
bad/worse/(the) worst
far/further/the furthest
• Comparative and superlative of most adverbs: carefully/more carefully/(the) most carefully
• Note these irregular adverbs:
well/better/(the) best
badly/worse/(the) worst.
• We form the comparative and superlative of the following irregular adverbs with -er and -est:
fast, soon, hard, high, near, long, late, early.
fast/faster/(the) fastest
late/ later/(the) latest
1 Look at these facts and figures about two Australian cities.
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first, using the word given.
Example: Melbourne’s population isn’t as big as Sydney’s. (larger)
Sydney's population is larger than Melbourne's.
1 Melbourne’s population isn’t as big as Sydney’s, (smaller)
Melbourne’s ...
2 Melbourne isn’t as old as Sydney. (older)
Sydney ...
3 In January Sydney isn’t as hot as Melbourne. (hotter) Melbourne ... in January.
4 Sydney’s much wetter than Melbourne. (drier) Melbourne’s ...
5 Houses in Melbourne aren’t as expensive as in Sydney. (expensive)
Houses in Sydney ...
6 Sydney’s further north than Melbourne. (further) Melbourne ...
2 Read the information and use superlatives to make sentences about the Tucker family.
Example: Marion is the oldest.
1 (young) ...
2 (tall) ...
3 (short) ...
4 (heavy) ...
5 (light) ...
3 Write ten sentences about the USA based on this table. Use the superlative form of these adjectives: tall, high, new, long, densely populated, big, popular, dry.
1 The Mississippi ... river.
2 Mount McKinley, Alaska ... mountain.
3 Hawaii ... state.
4 The Sears Tower, Chicago ... building.
5 New York is ... city
6 Baseball ... sport.
7 Death Valley, California ... place.
8 Washington, D.C. ... state.
4 In a newspaper article people were asked about the things that really annoyed them. Complete their answers with the comparative or superlative form of the adjective/adverb in brackets.
1 For me (annoying) ... thing is sitting next to someone with a personal stereo on a train. And then, and this is even (annoying) ..., they move their head in time with the music.
2 For me (bad) ... thing is walking along the street with a boy who’s constantly
looking at his reflection in shop windows because he thinks he’s (good-looking) ... person in the world.
3 (Irritating) ... thing is when I’m trying to sleep and there’s a mosquito in the room which is getting (near) ... and (near) ... but I can never find it.
4 There’s nothing (irritating) ... than trying to tie a shoe lace when one end is much (short) ... than the other.
5 Nothing makes me (angry) ... than waiting on the phone, listening to recorded music and trying to decide whether to wait (long) ... or put the phone down.
5 Write sentences in which you compare yourself as you are now with how you were five years ago. Check your answers with a teacher.
Example: Five years ago I was thinner than I am now, and I had shorter hair.