English Grammar Drills - Mark Lester 2009
Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
2 Adjectives
Part 1 Noun Phrases
English is unusual in that it has not one but two ways of forming the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. One way, as we have seen, is by adding -er and -est onto the base form of the adjective. The other way does not change the form of the adjective itself (the base form), but
instead uses more + adjective for the comparative form and most + adjective for the superlative form. For example:
Base Comparative Superlative
reluctant more reluctant most reluctant
foolish more foolish most foolish
vicious more vicious most vicious
The reason why English has two different sets of comparative and superlative forms is historical. Adjectives of native English origin usually form their comparative and superlative forms with -er and -est endings. Adjectives borrowed from French usually form their comparative and superlative forms with more and most. Adjectives of English origin tend to be one and two syllable words. Adjectives of French origin tend to be polysyllabic, that is two, three, and even four syllables.
Over time, English speakers tended to forget about historical origin and instead associated the -er and -est endings with short adjectives and more and most with long adjectives. As a result, nearly all adjectives of one syllable use -er and -est and adjectives of three or more syllables use more and most.
Two-syllable adjectives pose a problem because they can form their comparative and superlative forms either way. A few adjectives can even use both ways. For example, the two-syllable polite can be used in either pattern:
Susan is politer than Alice. Susan is the politest person in her class.
Susan is more polite than Alice. Susan is the most polite person I know.
Here are two generalizations that can help in deciding which type of comparative and superlative to use:
1. Two-syllable adjectives that end in an unstressed vowel sound tend to use the -er/-est pattern. Two-syllable adjectives ending in -le or -y are especially common. For example:
Notice that when the base form ends in -y, the comparative and superlative forms change the -y to -i. This change is a general spelling rule that we also saw in forming the plural of nouns that end in -y—for example, lady-ladies, history-histories, story-stories.
2. Adjectives that are derived from verbs ending in -ing or -ed form their comparative and superlative with more and most. For example:
A few irregular comparatives and superlatives survive from older forms of English:
Adjective Comparative Superlative
bad worse worst
good better best
The adjective far is peculiar in that it has two sets of comparative and superlative forms with slightly different meanings:
Adjective Comparative Superlative
far farther farthest
far further furthest
We use farther and farthest for distance in space. For example:
Please take the farthest seat.
We use further and furthest for all other kinds of sequences or progressions. For example:
Are there any further questions?
Exercise 2.2
Give the comparative and superlative forms of the following adjectives.
Base Comparative Superlative
worried more worried most worried
1. sad
2. costly
3. sound
4. valuable
5. likely
6. sunny
7. patient
8. improved
9. normal
10. blue
11. bad
12. tiring