Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives in English

Let's talk about the adjective degrees of comparison. We'll try to understand the peculiarities and tell you about a method on how to learn this topic faster with Booyya.

How to form the adjective degrees of comparison

Most adjectives have 3 forms to describe different degrees of quality:

• The positive degree is an adjective that describes a feature of a thing, person, or event. This is the main form that we usually learn in English classes in word lists.

• The comparative degree is used to identify differences between specific objects, people, their actions or characteristics. Generally, the comparative is formed by adding the suffix -er to the main word: fast → faster. With some adjectives, the auxiliary word “more” is also used.

• The superlative degree helps us compare a large number of items (three or more) with each other, while distinguishing only one of the items in the list by some characteristic. This form allows us to describe the highest level or degree of a feature. The suffix -est is usually used to form the superlative degree of comparison: fast → the fastest. In some cases, it retains its basic form and; therefore, the word “most” is added to it. In English, the article “the” is usually used to form this adjective degree of comparison in a sentence.

Forms of comparison of one-syllable words

One-syllable words consist of only one syllable (e.g. big, rich) and are the easiest to create comparatives from. As it was mentioned above, all you need to do is add the suffix -er or -est to the word. Here comes an example for better understanding:

sad → sadder → the saddest

However, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• if the word ends in a consonant sound after a vowel, this consonant is doubled: hot → hotter → the hottest;

• when a word ends in -e, this letter is lost when forming degrees of comparison: late → later → the latest;

• if the adjective ends in -y followed by a consonant, this letter should be replaced with -i: easy → easier → the easiest.

Comparison of two-syllable adjectives

In general, the degree of comparison of such words is formed by using the suffixes -er or -est. However, it is just as grammatically correct to use the words more and (the) most for this purpose – the teacher will not give you a lower grade. For example, for the word “crazy”, the forms “crazier” and “more crazy” are both acceptable and have the same meaning. Similarly, you can say “the craziest” or “the most crazy”. 

In spoken language, suffixes are more commonly used in comparisons, especially when the word itself is short. The exceptions to this are the short words “quiet” and “simple”, which can be used to create degrees of comparison in both of the above ways.

Three-syllable adjectives in comparison

Comparatives with long words that have at least three syllables should be formed by adding the word “more” or “(the) most”:

comfortable → more comfortable → the most comfortable

If the word is derived from a participle, then “more” and “(the) most” will always be used to form a comparison. We have collected examples of the comparative degrees of such adjectives in English in the table below:

The “as... as” construction to compare adjectives

In case you forget the rules of comparison we described above, you can simply compare the object/action to something specific, for example, “as inventive as Einstein”. Here is how it can look in English:

• Sean is as tall as his father.

• Mia is as pretty as Sara.

• Paris is as beautiful as London.

Adjectives that cannot be compared

In English, there are words that don’t form comparatives simply because of their meaning. A great example are the “left” and “right”. We can’t say “please hand me the lefter apple” because it’s an incorrect grammatical construction.

There are some more non-comparable words including those which have a perfect form. For example, when we use the adjective “dead”, we can’t say that someone is more dead and someone is a little more alive.  

Learn how to create adjective comparison forms in English and their rules with Booyya

Do you want to learn all the most commonly used adjectives in English and the rules for forming their comparative degrees within an hour? You can easily do it with the help of a course from Booyya!  Experienced teachers have prepared it for you:

• more than 30 most common adjectives in English, which will help you build your knowledge base;

• an interesting and relevant text that will help you not only memorize new words and their meanings, but also learn all the adjective degrees of comparison that we have discussed above;

• a list of exceptions that you should always keep in mind;

• exercises to train your ability to form different degrees of comparison in English from the basic form of an adjective;

• tables for easy revision of the material.

Practice shows that you can complete the entire lesson in 40 minutes. However, we recommend that you return to it every now and again to consolidate your knowledge in your long-term memory. Thanks to the interesting text and interactive exercises, you will definitely enjoy it.