Learning English

More about comparatives

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In activity one, we looked at comparative adjectives ending with –er and superlatives ending with –est, but I am sure many of you noticed there were sentences like this in Session One:

• New Broadcasting House now provides the most advanced digital broadcast and production centre in the world.
• It's a more accessible building for the public.
• Broadcasting House is one of the most iconic buildings in the world.
• In the 1960s, the Beatles were the most famous band in the world.

The comparatives and superlatives are different in these sentences. We use ‘more’ before the adjective to make a comparative form and ‘the most’ to make a superlative. Do you know why?

It is because these adjectives have 2 syllables or more and they don’t end in ‘y’. Here are some more examples:

• The new Broadcasting House was the most expensive project in BBC history.
• Having one central location makes the BBC more efficient.
• The new ‘John Peel Wing’ is named after one of the BBC’s most popular presenters.
• The new studios are more comfortable than the old ones.

When we make comparisons, we sometimes also use ‘much’ or ‘a lot’ before the adjective for emphasis. Look at these examples:

• The new building is much nicer than the old one.
• I love this new furniture. It is a lot more comfortable than the old stuff.
• Our studios are much more modern now.
• My office is a lot bigger than before. It’s great!

We do not use ‘much’ or ‘a lot’ with superlatives because they do not need extra emphasis!

Please check out the grammar reference for more examples and explanations. 

To do

Do you know when to use ‘–er’ and when to use ‘more’? And how about ‘-est’ and ‘most’? Find out with this multi-choice quiz. Choose the best answer to finish each sentence. 

Next

We have looked closely at describing changes using comparative and superlative adjectives. In the next activity, we will look at how we compare nouns.