The
Rules For Using Comparative Adjectives
The Rules for using Comparative
Adjectives
How to Use Comparative Adjectives
"Than" is usually usually used after the comparative adjective.
-er is added to the end of a 1-syllable adjective
* cold - colder
* small - smaller
* tall - taller
* The winter is colder than the summer.
* The green hat is smaller than the
yellow hat.
* Most basketball players are taller
than me.
-er is added to the end of an
adjective with 2 syllables, if the word ends in -y.
* early - earlier
* happy - happier
* crazy - crazier
* I came home earlier than my sister.
* I am happier now than 1 year ago.
* My friend is crazier than me.
"more"
is used for words that have 2 syllables, if the word doesn't end in -y.
adjectives that end in -y, change the -y to i and add -ed
* honest - more honest
* difficult- more difficult
* modern - more modern
* The policeman are more
honest than criminals.
* The last test was more difficult than
the test today.
* Our generation is more modern, than
our parents generation
"more is used for words that have 3 or more syllables
* expensive - more expensive
* difficult - more difficult
* comfortable - more comfortable
adjectives that end in -e, only -r is added to end of the adjective
* nice -nicer
* safe -safer
adjective that end in a consonant, vowel, consonant - the last
consonant is doubled
* big -bigger
* fat- fatter
* hot -hotter
* My house is bigger than, my sisters
house.
* My sister is fatter than me.
* The summer is hotter than the winter.
Vocabulary Word:
puerile (comparative more puerile, superlative most puerile) adj.
Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
- Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; confer: puellile.
- Childish; trifling; silly.
- The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents. -De Quincey.
- 1927. "From the table he had received the gout; from the alcove a tendency to convulsions; from the grandeeship a pride so vast and puerile that he seldom heard anything that was said to him and talked to the ceiling in a perpetual monologue; from the exile, oceans of boredom, a boredom so persuasive that it was like pain,—he woke up with it and spent the day with it, and it sat by his bed all night watching his sleep."
- Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, p. 79
