Adjectives - Comparing Unequal

This lesson is on adjectives and how we compare them when they’re unequal.

comparisons can be positive or negative in several different ways to form the comparative adjective and we use comparisons when asking questions.

so how we form the comparative, for short adjectives of one or two syllables at E R or r to the end and if the word ends in a Y replace the Y with an eye before adding E R and words that end in a vowel plus a single consonant often double the consonant in the comparative form.

We’ll see examples of all of these now.

the film is a long, the film is longer than I remember.

so long is the adjective and longer is the comparative form.

Sandra is pale, in comparison Sandra is paler than her friend.

Please note here that pale ends with an E.

So we don’t add an E R we just add an R.

John is funny, john is funnier than Andy and here we see the example where funny ends in a Y and is replaced with an i before e r.

The house is big, your house is bigger than my house.

This is an example where we have a vowel with a single consonant and we make two G’s to make bigger fat goes to fatter and so on.

and for adjectives with three or more syllables we add more before the adjective.

the dress is beautiful, This dress is more beautiful than that one.

this car is expensive, This car is more expensive than the one I bought last year.

if we try to say expensiver or beautifuler, It gets a bit unwieldy and that’s why after three syllables we just add a more in front of it to make the comparative.

Throughout of course as his English irregular versions.

comparative form of good is better.

So here we see the example Sarah is good at tennis.

Sarah is better than her brother.

And the comparative form of bad is worse.

So Jim is bad at football.

Jim is worse than Peter.

Tony can run far, Tony ran farther than yesterday.

and some people use further, But the general consensus is to use farther for distances and further for sort of abstract concepts.

And the comparative form of Little is less.

So Jenny ate little food in the morning, Jenny ate less in the morning than the evening.

And the comparative versions of much and many is more.

So then some examples.

When we compare unequal adjectives, used comparative form of the adjective, plus than.

So Andy is taller than his father now.

Liz is prettier than her sister.

Bob is more passionate about films than Jim.

your house is bigger than my house.

and when we’re comparing equality, we can have positive or negative, so it can be equal or can we not equal.

Steve is taller than his mother, he is not taller than his father.

Jenny is smarter than her sister, she is not smarter than her brother.

The new flat is bigger than the old one, and my old car is not more expensive than my new one.

and here we see the formation in the positive, We have comparative plus than and in a negative form not comparative plus than.

I think it’s quite straightforward.

and we can use comparisons when asking questions.

do you think Suzy is prettier than her sister?

is your new house bigger than your old one?

is Paul taller than you?

Did you find room more interesting than Paris?

is your new sofa more comfortable than your old one?

And other sales figures worse than predicted.

So all of these questions, The format is still the same.

We use a comparative adjective plus then when asking our questions.