COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

Adjectives can compare two things or more than two things. When we make these comparisons, we use comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.

One way to describe nouns (people, objects, animals, etc.) is by comparing them to something else. When comparing two things, you’re likely to use adjectives like smaller, bigger, taller, more interesting, and less expensive. Notice the ‑er ending, and the words more and less. A mistake that both native speakers and non-native speakers make is using incorrectly formed comparative adjectives. See the sentences below for an illustration of this common error:

ERROR: His cat is more large than my dog.

CORRECT: His cat is larger than my dog.

For adjectives that are just one syllable, add -er to the end (this explains the above example). For two-syllable adjectives not ending in -y and for all three-or-more-syllable adjectives, use the form “more + adjective.” For two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, change the -y to -i and add -er.