In the last lesson, you learned that adjectives describe nouns.
For example, you can say:
Billy is fast.
Fast is an adjective.
To compare how fast Billy is to someone else, we can say:
Billy is faster than Jeff.
Faster is a comparative adjective!
Comparative adjectives compare two nouns.
️️ Add -er to most adjectives to make them comparative.
Fast - Faster
What if you run faster than anyone in your school?
You can say:
I am the fastest runner in my school!
Fastest is called a superlative adjective.
Superlative adjectives like 'fastest', or 'smartest' compare three or more nouns.
️️ Add -est to most adjectives to make them superlative. 🎉
Fast - Faster - Fastest
If an adjective ends in a consonant and y, change the y to i before adding -er or -est.
pretty = prettier
pretty = prettiest
If an adjective ends in e, drop the e before adding -er or -est.
large = larger
large = largest
In adjectives that have a single vowel before a final consonant, double the final consonant before adding -er or -est.
big = bigger
big = biggest
Some adjectives don't follow the rules above.
They have different words for their comparative and superlative forms.
Take a look:
Good
Better = compares two nouns
Best = compares three or more nouns
Bad
Worse = compares two nouns
Worst = compares three or more nouns
Many
More = compares two nouns
Most = compares three or more nouns
Adding these adjectives before another adjective can make it compare.
Take a look:
Positive - more positive - most positive
She is the most positive person I know.
Full - less full - least full
Her glass is the least full.
Adjectives can compare lots of different things.
Let's look at example adjectives comparing people! 🕵
smarter / smartest
taller / tallest
younger / youngest
slower / slowest
Let's use an adjective that compares people in a sentence. 👫
Frank is the youngest student in third grade.
Can you think of any adjectives that compare places? 🤗
Here are some:
quieter / quietest
larger / largest
scarier / scariest
Here's a sentence with an adjective that compares places. 👇
The new restaurant was bigger than the old restaurant.
Can you think of any adjectives that can compare things? Here are some: 🎁
Smaller / smallest
Colder / coldest
Higher / highest
And here's an example in a sentence:
Broccoli is the tastiest.
Can you spot the superlative adjective is used in this sentence? 👇
My grandmother is the slowest driver!
Yes! Slowest is the superlative adjective!
We added -est instead of -er because we are comparing her driving to more than 3 other drivers. 😸
Great! 🎉
Let’s try one more.
Can you spot the comparative adjective below? 👇
Winter is colder than summer.
Yes, colder is the comparative adjective. ⛄
Great job! Now you can compare with adjectives. 😺
Complete the practice to help you remember for longer!