COMPARATIVES COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES l Onesyllable adjectives add

COMPARATIVES

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES l One-syllable adjectives add –er for the comparative. l l l small nice big warm hot l l l smaller nicer bigger warmer hotter

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES l We use more with two-syllable adjectives and with longer ones. l l l careful boring famous exciting reliable l l l more careful more boring more famous more exciting more reliable

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES l Two-syllable adjectives ending in consonant + y lose y and add –ier. l l busy happy dirty l l l busier happier dirtier Some two-syllable adjectives add -er or have more, e. g. narrow, clever, common, gentle, quiet, simple.

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES Spelling rules for the –er endings l l l Adjectives ending in –e add –r, e. g. finer, safer, larger Adjectives ending in consonant + y lose y and add –ier, e. g. lovelier, luckier, prettier Adjectives ending in a single vowel + single consonant double the consonant, e. g. fitter, sadder, thinner, wetter, hotter

COMPARISON OF ADVERBS l l Some adverbs have the same form as an adjective. They add –er, e. g. earlier, faster, harder, higher Many adverbs are an adjective + ly. They form the comparative with more, e. g. more easily, more carefully, more slowly

IRREGULAR FORMS l Some adjectives / adverbs have irregular forms: l better l good/well l worse l bad/badly l farther / further l far l We can use elder instead of older / oldest for people in the same family.

COMPARATIVE PATTERNS I l l l We use as … as to say that things are equal or unequal. Our house is as big as yours. It isn’t as cold as yesterday. We often use a phrase with than after a comparison. The steak is more expensive than the fish. After than we use an object pronoun or a personal pronoun with a verb. She is older than me / than I am.

COMPARATIVE PATTERNS II l l Less is the opposite of more and. We use it with both long and short words. I go out less often these days. We can modify the comparative with much, a bit. It’s much faster by tube. Business is a bit better this year.

Let’s practise! Use the words given to compare the following pictures.

FRUIT FRIES HEALTHY EXPENSIVE SWEET TASTY FATTENING CHOCOLATE

DIFFICULT EASY BEAUTIFUL USEFUL WIDELY SPOKEN

JAMAICA SPAIN COLD HOT LARGE POPULAR EASY GOING POPULATED CANADA

BORING USEFUL POPULAR BAD TIME CONSUMING COOKING CLEANING IRONING

BIKE ELECTRIC CAR SUV CHEAP SLOW SMALL ECO-FRIENDLY COMFORTABLE POLLUTING

AMUSING POPULAR DANGEROUS HEALTHY EXPENSIVE ICE SKATING FOOTBALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL SNOWBOARDING

GIJÓN COSMOPOLITAN WEATHER NOISY POLLUTED QUIET CROWDED TOKYO MAUI