Comparative and Superlative Adjective Forms and Examples

Definition of Comparative Adjectives

Think of the adjectives you know: sad, long, happy, beautiful, and extensive, maybe? We use these adjectives to describe one object.

But . . . what if you have two objects and you want to compare them? Which person is sadder? Which person is more beautiful? What is more extensive? To compare two objects, we use comparative adjectives.

Examples of Comparative Adjectives

The dog can run faster than I can run.

The tree is higher than the house.

The couch is bigger than the chair.

Definition of Superlatives

Now . . . what if you have three or more objects? If you want to share which object is the most, you use a superlative. Someone is the saddest or the happiest. Something is the most extensive. This means out of all the objects, this one has the most of the property we’re talking about.

 Examples of Comparative Adjectives:

This dog is the fastest in the race.

That is the tallest tree in the forest.

This is the biggest chair in the furniture store.

And….  Remember the pattern for comparative adjectives:

SUBJECT + VERB + COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVE + THAN + OBJECT

Sometimes /THAN + OBJECT/ is understood; for example, /We are both tall, but I am taller/.

How to make a comparative depends on the number of syllables in the adjective. For one to two syllables, you add an -er to the end. For three or more, we add a more in front of the adjective for comparative, and most in front of the adjective for superlatives.

Comparative and Superlative Adjective Forms

Worksheet: Provide the comparative and superlative for each adjective.

1. sad
2. excited
3. happy
4. embarrassed
5. silly

Answers

Sadder, the saddest

More excited, the most excited

Happier, the happiest

More embarrassed, the most embarrassed

Sillier, the silliest