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Comparatives and Superlatives |
Adjectives describe and add information about the people
or things we see every day. Sometimes, though, we want
to know how two things compare to one another.
Let’s start with something light. In 1994, actors Jim
Carrey and Jeff Daniels made a comic film called “Dumb
and Dumber.” Audiences saw the characters do
increasingly “dumb” things for laughs.
Here, the adjective form is dumb and the comparative
form is dumber. By adding –er to the adjective, you show
the difference between two things—that one action or
person is dumber than another. This works for adjectives
that have one or two syllables such as nice or pretty.
Rules for comparatives
But when a word has three or more syllables, you cannot
use the –er suffix to make a comparison. You cannot say
a person or object is “beautifuller” than another.
Instead, you say they are more beautiful.
There is a rule you can remember to help with
comparatives. If a word has more than two syllables, you
do not use the suffix –er. Instead, you use the adverb
more before the adjective of comparison. For example,
“The test this week was more difficult than the one last
week.”
Other comparatives, especially in advertising, may not
directly mention which two nouns are being compared. The
retail giant Wal-Mart has an advertisement that simply
says, “live better.” Live better than whom? So if a
laundry detergent advertisement claims to make colors
brighter, you may ask, “brighter than what?”
When the nouns that are being compared are not
specifically stated, you can call it an empty
comparison.
Listen for the comparative in this song by Steve Winwood.
We walk blind and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love…
Farther and further
Watch out for irregular forms of comparatives. There are
some common one-syllable adjectives that can be
confusing. The adjective far is an example. It seems
logical that the comparative of far would be farrer. But
the comparative of far is farther. “My house is farther
from work than yours.”
Another comparative form of far is further, as in “Her
career has progressed further than his.” Traditionally,
farther refers to a distance that can be measured.
Further refers to a distance that cannot be measured.
Nowadays, many people use farther and further
interchangeably. This confusing exception has to do with
spelling and pronunciation changes in English during the
Middle Ages.
Good, better, best
Comparatives like these do not tell us too much about
the degree of comparison. So we can always compare
things that are similar as long as they are a little
different. For example, the planet Saturn is big--more
than 116,000 kilometers across. But the planet Jupiter
is bigger. On the other end of the scale, an ant, a very
small insect, is longer than a mite.
What if we are trying to make a specific comparison
between many things? Then we use the superlative. The
superlative describes the highest degree of something.
The comparative of good is better. The superlative form
is best.
Listen to singer Tina Turner use the superlative in her
hit song, “Simply the Best.”
You're the best
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I've ever met…
Bad, worse, worst
On the other end, the comparative of bad is worse, and
the superlative is worst. Little becomes less and then
there is least, comparatively speaking. You have to pay
attention with comparative adjectives, but adding –est
to regular adjectives gives you the superlative form.
However, as with the comparative form, if the adjective
has more than two syllables, use the most to form the
superlative. You can hear the superlative with the most
followed by a three-syllable adjective in this song by
Prince.
Could you be
The most beautiful girl in the world
Many Americans celebrate the Halloween holiday on the
last day of October. Halloween is associated with the
spirits of the dead and all things frightening and
terrifying. Young people wear scary costumes. The time
of year can be termed spooky. When comparing we could
say one costume is spookier than another. But the most
frightening of all is the spookiest.
Rounding out our survey, let’s look ahead to the end of
the year and the Christmas holiday. Some might say it is
the best time of the year whether for its religious
significance or the spirit of giving during that holiday
season. Some might say it is the most wonderful time of
the year.
I’m Kelly Jean Kelly. And I’m Mario Ritter.
Mario Ritter wrote this article for VOA Learning
English. Adam Brock and Hai Do were the editors. |
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