Comparatives and Superlatives

In today’s blog post we are going to learn all about comparative adjectives! Learning about comparative adjectives is really important so that you can describe things or people in relation to others. Oftentimes, when we take an adjective and make it a comparative adjective, we add on + ER to the end of the word.
For example: “I am tall” would become “I am taller than my sister”!
“My car is big” would become “my car is bigger than your car”.
The formula is:

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

However, maybe you have noticed that not all adjectives can be transformed into comparative adjectives by simply adding on ER. If a word is long, (typically more than two syllables but not always), we have to add the word more to make it a comparative adjective.

For example : This coat is more expensive than that coat!
My happiness is more important to me than my wealth.

The formula for long words is:

Noun (subject) + verb + more + adjective + than + noun (object).

But what if we want to transform an adjective into a superlative? To do this we often add on EST to the end of an adjective to transform it into a superlative form.

For example: My grandma is the oldest in the family.
I am the tallest in the class!

However, just as before a separate rule comes for adjectives that are particularly long. For these words we need to add on the word MOST.

For example: This test is the most difficult test that you can take.
She is so kind, she is the most supportive teacher I have ever had.