Comparison: adjectives (bigger, 

biggest, more interesting)
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Comparative adjectives

Comparative adjectives compare one person or thing with another and enable us to say whether a
person or thing has more or less of a particular quality:

Josh is  taller than  his sister.

I’m  more interested  in music  than  sport.

Big cars that use a lot of petrol are  less popular  now  than  twenty years ago.

Superlative adjectives

Superlative adjectives describe one person or thing as having more of a quality than all other people or
things in a group:

The ‘Silver Arrow’ will be  the fastest train  in the world when it is built.

The most frightening film  I’ve ever seen was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’.

What is  the least expensive way  of travelling in Japan?

Comparative or superlative?

A comparative compares a person or thing with another person or thing. A superlative compares a
person or thing with the whole group of which that person or thing is a member:

Joe’s  older  than Mike. (comparing one person with another)

Sheila is  the youngest  girl in the family. (comparing one person with the whole group she belongs to)

When there are just two members in a group, traditionally, we use the comparative. However, in
informal situations people often use the superlative:

Who is  younger, Rowan or Tony? (traditional usage)

Jan and Barbara are both tall, but Jan’s  the tallest. (more informal)

 
Comparative and superlative adjectives: form
One-syllable adjectives (big, cold, hot, long, nice, old, tall)

To form the comparative, we use the -er suffix with adjectives of one syllable:

It’s  colder  today than yesterday.

It was a  longer  holiday than the one we had last year.

Sasha is  older  than Mark.

To form the superlative, we use the -est suffix with adjectives of one syllable. We normally
use the before a superlative adjective:

I think that’s  the biggest  apple I’ve ever seen!

At one time, the Empire State building in New York was  the tallest  building in the world.

They have three boys. Richard is  the oldest  and Simon is  the youngest.

Spelling of comparatives and superlatives with one-syllable adjectives

type of
adjectiv comparative superlative
e

most add add

adjectiv -er: cheaper, richer, smaller,  -est: cheapest, richest, smallest, 
es younger youngest

adjectiv
es
add -r: finer, nicer, rarer add -st: finest, nicest, rarest
ending
in -e

adjectiv double the final consonant double the final consonant and
es with and add -er: bigger, hotter, add
 type of
adjectiv comparative superlative
e

one
vowel +
one thinner -est: biggest, hottest, thinnest
consona
nt:

Note the pronunciation of these comparatives and superlatives:

1. long /lɒŋ/ longer /lɒŋgə(r)/ longest /lɒŋgəst/
2. strong /strɒŋ/ stronger /strɒŋgə(r)/ strongest /strɒŋgəst/
3. young /jʌŋ/ younger /jʌŋgə(r)/ youngest /jʌŋgəst/

One-syllable adjectives which are irregular

Some one-syllable adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms:

1. bad, worse, worst far, farther/further, farthest/furthest

2. good, better, best old, older/elder, oldest/eldest

The morning flight is  better  than the afternoon one.

His  elder  sister works for the government.

Olivia is Denise’s  best  friend.

I think that was the  worst  film I’ve ever seen!

Pluto is  the furthest  planet from the sun in our solar system.

Warning:

We do not use more or most together with an -er or -est ending:

They emigrate because they are looking for a  better  life.

Not: … a more better life

The beach at Marmaris is one of  the biggest  in Turkey.

Not: … the most biggest …

Two-syllable adjectives

Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y change y to i and take the -er and -est endings:

busy, busier, busiest happy, happier, happiest

easy, easier, easiest funny, funnier, funniest

We were  busier  last week than this week.

Are you  happier  now that you’ve changed your job?

That was  the easiest  exam I’ve ever taken.

Some other two-syllable adjectives (especially those ending in an unstressed vowel sound) can also
take the -er and -est endings:

clever, cleverer, cleverest quiet, quieter, quietest

narrow, narrower, narrowest simple, simpler, simplest

I’ve always thought that Donald was  cleverer  than his brother.

This new bed is  narrower  than the old one.

The guest bedroom is  the quietest  room in the house because it overlooks the garden.

We don’t normally use the -er and -est endings with two-syllable adjectives ending in -ful. Instead, we
use more and most/least:

This dictionary is  more useful  than the one we had before.

Not: This dictionary is usefuller  …

You’ll have to try to be  more careful  in future.

The most useful  tool in the kitchen is a good sharp knife.

Not: The usefulest tool in the kitchen  …

This is  the least harmful  chemical in terms of the environment.

Longer adjectives

Adjectives of three or more syllables form the comparative with more/less and the superlative
with most/least:

The second lecture was  more interesting  than the first.

Not: The second lecture was interestinger  …

That way of calculating the figures seems  less complicated  to me.

London is  the most popular  tourist destination in England.

Not: London is the popularest  …

If you are going as a group,  the least expensive  option is to rent an apartment or villa.

Comparative adjectives: using much, a lot, far, etc.

We can strengthen or emphasise a comparative adjective using words such as much, a lot, far,
even or rather, or by using than ever after the adjective:

This food is  much better  than the food we had yesterday.

The town is  a lot more crowded  these days because of the new shopping centre.

Alex is  far less intelligent  than the other kids in the class.

We’ve been  busier than ever  at work this last month or so.

We can soften a comparative adjective using a little or a bit. A bit is less formal:

She feels  a little more confident  now that she’s given her first public performance.

or She feels a bit more confident … (less formal)

 
Comparative adjectives: using than

We use than when we mention the second person or thing in the comparison. If the second person
mentioned takes the form of a personal pronoun, we normally use the object form of the pronoun ( me,
you, him, her, us, them):

Could you carry this? You’re stronger  than me.

Not: You’re stronger than I .

Why did you choose Robert? Marie is more experienced  than him.

In more formal situations, instead of than + object pronoun, we can use than + subject pronoun + be:

You managed to answer the ten questions correctly? Well, you’re definitely cleverer  than I am!

I preferred Henrietta to Dennis. She was always more sociable  than he was.

Comparative adjectives: -er and -er, more and more

To talk about how a person or thing is changing and gaining more of a particular quality, we can use
two -er form adjectives connected by and, or we can use more and more before an adjective. We don’t
follow such comparisons with than:

The weather is getting  hotter and hotter.

I’m getting  more and more interested  in conservation these days.

Comparative adjectives: the -er, the -er and the more …, the more …

If a person or things gains more of a particular quality and this causes a parallel increase of another
quality, we can repeat the + a comparative adjective:

The colder  it is,  the hungrier  I get. (as the weather gets colder, I get hungrier)

The more generous  you are towards others,  the more generous  they are likely to be towards you.

Reduced forms after comparatives

After than, we often don’t repeat subject pronouns with impersonal subjects, or auxiliary verbs with
passive voice verbs:

The exam results were  better than predicted. (preferred to … better than people predicted.)

Temperatures that summer were  higher than previously recorded. (preferred to … than were
previously recorded.)

Less and not as/not so with comparatives

We use less with longer adjectives (interesting, beautiful, complicated), but we don’t normally

use less with short adjectives of one syllable (big, good, high, small). Instead we use not as … as …,
or not so … as … Not as is more common than not so:

The second method was  less complicated than  the first one.

This new laptop is  not as fast as  my old one. I’m sorry I bought it now. (preferred to is less fast than
my old one.)

Prepositions after superlative adjectives

We don’t normally use of before a singular name of a place or group after a superlative adjective:

The castle is  the oldest  building in the city.

Not: The castle is the oldest building of the city  …

She’s  the youngest  musician in the orchestra.

However, we can use of with a plural word referring to a group:

All the sisters are pretty, but Sarah’s  the prettiest  of them all.

The with superlative adjectives

When a superlative adjective is followed by a noun, we normally use the:

This is  the best meal  I’ve had for a long time.

Not: This is best meal …

In informal situations, we can often omit the after a linking verb (be, seem) or a verb of the senses
(look, taste) if there is no noun:

[talking about sweaters in a shop]

They’ve got them in red, green or grey. Which looks  best?

If you want to get a message to Peter, email is  quickest. He never answers the phone.

Other determiners with superlative adjectives

Before a superlative adjective, we can use a possessive determiner (my, his, their), or the + a number
(two, three, first, second), or a possessive determiner + a number:

My worst  score ever in an exam was zero. I just couldn’t answer any of the questions.

Birmingham is the  second biggest  city in England.

His two best  friends organised a surprise party for him on his fortieth birthday.

Emphasising superlative adjectives

We can make a superlative adjective stronger with by far, easily or of all:

The Beatles were  by far the most successful  rock band of the 1960s.

This method is  by far the least complicated.

She’s  easily the best  dancer in the group. No one is as elegant as her.

There were a number of excellent poems entered for the competition, but  the best  poem  of all  was
written by a ten-year-old boy.

In more formal situations, we can use quite:

This is  quite the most irresponsible  behaviour I have ever seen.

To-infinitives after superlative adjectives

We can use a to-infinitive after a superlative adjective, with a meaning similar to a relative clause
with who, which or that:
 Who was  the oldest  person  to compete  in the London Marathon of 2008? (Who was the oldest
person who competed …?)

The Golden Swan was  the largest  sailing-ship ever  to be used  in battle.

Comparative adjectives: typical errors

 A comparative adjective is followed by than, not that or as:

The next hotel we tried was  more expensive than  the first one.

Not: … more expensive that the first one  … or …more expensive as the first one  …

 After a superlative adjective, we don’t normally use of before a singular name of a place or

group:

She was  the tallest  girl in the team.

Not: She was the tallest girl of the team .

 We use the superlative, not the comparative, when we compare more than two people or
things:

Which is the city’s  biggest  hotel?

Not: … bigger hotel

Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/comparatives-and-
superlatives/comparison-adjectives-bigger-biggest-more-interesting