Comparative vs. Superatives

When comparing objects, you may use some comparative or superlative adjectives. However, they each have their own rules to use, so it depends on what objects you are comparing and how many of the objects you are counting. In order to know how to use the adjectives, you will need to know the difference between the two. 

Comparative adjectives are words used to describe a noun. You use comparative adjectives when comparing two nouns. When you are comparing two things, you may want to compare their quality or degree. For example, if you are comparing phones, you may say that one phone is faster or more expensive than another. Typically, you will need to add -er (ex. small to smaller). However, there are other rules as well. See below for comparative adjectives rules. 

	Adjective	Comparative	Rule
Short	small	smaller	Add -er
Long	beautiful	More beautiful	Add more before the adjective
Adjectives that end in -e	large	larger	Add -r
Adjectives that end in -y	pretty	prettier	Change the -y to -i and add -er
Adjectives that end in consonant-vowel- consonant	big hot	bigger hotter	Double the final consonant and edd -er
Irregular	good bad	better worse	These adjectives are irregular

Superlative adjectives are words to describe a noun to the highest or lowest quality. You use these adjectives when comparing more than two things together. For example, the smallest, most expensive, or worst television. These adjectives have their own rules according to the number of syllables in the initial adjective being used. You will also add “the” before a superlative. 

	Adjective	Superlative	Rule
Short	small	The smallest	Add -est
Long	beautiful	The most beautiful	Add ‘the most’ before the adjective
Adjectives that end in -e	large	The largest	Add -st
Adjectives that end in -y	pretty	The prettiest	Change the -y to -i and add -est
Adjectives that end in consonant-vowel- consonant	big hot	The biggest The hottest	Double the final consonant and edd -est
Irregular	good bad	The best The worst	These adjectives are irregular

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Published on November 11, 2022

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