Comparatives and superlatives

Centro de Bachillerato Tecnológico e Industrial y de Servicios

English III

Teacher: Lic. Sonia Miriam Ríos

Schoolgirl: Claudia Sofía Flores Celaya

N.L. 15

Comparativos y superlativos / Comparatives and superlatives

Los adjetivos describen cualidades de sustantivos. Algunas de estas cualidades pueden variar en el grado o intensidad. Al igual que en español, cuando queremos hacer comparaciones contrastamos cualidades o atributos por medio de adjetivos en sus diversos grados.

The positive rating

The degree of positive adjectives, we have seen above, is the quality in the simplest degree.

Fast, hard, smart, pretty,Clean, large, small, old, Examples:

John runs fast.I am tall.New York is big.

The comparative degree

When making comparisons, we can highlight the superiority, inferiority or equal quality of either. The structure of each of these degrees of comparison is different.

1. Comparative of superiority. In comparisons of superiority, the adjective, the comparative form is (see below), is followed by "than".

Examples:

John runs faster than Mark.Angela's room is cleaner than Sue's.

I am workshop than Beth.New York is bigger than Los Angeles.

2. Comparative of inferiority. To form this type of comparison we can use the conjunctions "not as ... as" or "less than ...". In both cases, the adjective is positive rating.

Mark is not as fast as Juan.Sue's clean room is less than Angela's.Beth is tall as me notes.Los Angeles is not as big as New York.

3. Comparative of equality. With the adjective in the positive degree, we use the word "as ... as" to make equality comparisons.

Mark is as fast as Juan.Sue's room is as clean as Angela's.Beth is as tall as I am.Los Angeles is as big as New York.The superlative

The superlative degree denotes the quality at the highest level and as in Spanish, "the" before the adjective used in the superlative form (see below).

Examples:

Juan is the fastest.Angela's room is the cleanest.I am the tallest.New York is the biggest city in the United States.Form

There are rules to form the comparative and superlative.

1. For one-syllable adjectives

ComparativeAdds "-er"  FasterSuperlativeHe adds: "-est"  Fastest

2. For one-syllable adjectives ending in "e":

ComparativeHe adds: "-r"  NicerSuperlativeHe adds: "-st"  nicest

3. For one-syllable adjectives ending in a consonant + vowel + consonant:

Comparativeadds: consonant + "-er"hotterSuperlativeadds: consonant + "-est"  Hottest

4. two-syllable adjectives ending in "y":

ComparativeReplace "and" by "-ier"  funnier

SuperlativeReplace "and" by "-iest"Funniest

5. Adjectives of two or more syllables:

ComparativeAdds: "more" / "less"More beautifulLess beautifulSuperlativeHe adds: "the most" / "the least"The most beautifulThe least beautiful

Examples

Positive Comparativo Superlativo

Tall Taller The Tallest

Intelligent More IntelligentThe Most Intelligent

Big Bigger The Biggest

Expensive More ExpensiveThe Most Expensive

Old Older The Oldest

Small Smaller The Smallest

Long Longer The Longest

Fat Fatter The Fasttest

New Newer The Newest

Short Shorter The Shortest