Comparing 3 or more adjectives in English. When we compare one adjective to another adjective, we use comparative adjectives. When we compare 3 or more things in English, we superlative adjectives. For most adjectives, we can compare them by adding the +est to the sentence. We will look at this in much more detail in Level A2, but in this course we will look at the basic information.
For example:
Mice can run at 10 kilometres an hour. Dogs can run at 20 kilometres an hour. Horses can run at 80 kilometres an hour.
- Comparative: Dogs are faster than mice. Horses are faster than dogs.
- Superlative: Horses are the fastest.
Here are some more examples:
- A whale is the biggest animal in the world..
- Jack is the tallest boy in his class.
- Walking is the cheapest way to travel.
- My grandmother is the oldest person in my family.
For longer words, we use a different rule – we add the most…. . Here are some examples:
The red car is £1000. This blue car is £15000. The black car is £50000> The blue car is the most expensive car.
Here are some more examples:
- The Prime Minister is the is the most important person in the country.
- English is the most difficult language in the world!
- She is the the most interesting person I know.
Be careful! Some adjectives are irregular and do not follow these rules! Here are some examples of irregular superlative adjectives:
- good > the best
- bad > the worst
- far > the furthest/the farthest
Here are some example sentences:
- A car is the best way to travel quickly.
- My test scores are the worst in the class!
- New Zealand is the furthest country from the UK.
To learn more about superlative adjectives, take a look at the 6 rules for using superlative adjectives in Level A2.
Ready to test your skills? Click the link in the table below to see what you know.