Comparative & Superlative Adjectives in English: Complete Guide

hi i'm rebecca from ingvid this lesson is for you if you make mistakes when you describe or especially when you compare people places or things now in terms of grammar this is a lesson about comparative or superlative adjectives i'll explain to you exactly what that means and how we use it okay but in terms of real life this lesson is really about something that you need to do in english almost every day so let's get started now let's look at the board here where i have tried to draw three tall men a b and c now if we describe this three people we could say these sentences a is tall let's say b is taller than a and c is the tallest now when i said a is tall i just used an adjective tall that's our basic adjective when i said taller that is when you compare two people or places or things so that is called the comparative adjective it compares two things and when we said c is the tallest the tallest is the superlative adjective it means the most of something okay in this case the most in terms of height so it became the tallest so basic adjective comparative adjective and superlative adjective now that's one way to do it but let's look at another example this shop is expensive basic adjective that shop is more expensive the comparative adjective and this is the most expensive shop that's the superlative adjective right the most but what's going on here here we said tall taller the tallest here we said expensive more expensive the most expensive something different right okay i'll explain to you exactly when you use this kind of construction and when you use this form hang in there and let's look at one last example i have a good job you have a better job and she has the best job in this case good was the basic adjective better is the comparative adjective between two people and the best is the superlative adjective now we have something even more different right good better and the best so which of these do you use when that's what you're going to learn really really well and in such an easy way that you will never forget it in just one second okay so all of the examples we looked at just now were correct so how do you decide which one to use i'm going to show you now with a very simple chart and what this chart shows you is that the point that matters is the adjective itself how many syllables is it divided into what's the syllable it's how many parts in terms of pronunciation is the word divided into and i will explain that to you right now so when we look at a very short word like cold large hot or dry it has only one syllable we say it fast cold we cannot say old we just say cold so it has one syllable when we say this word happy it has two syllables when we say this word intelligent it has intelligent four syllables actually okay so syllables are just how many parts the word is divided into when we can pronounce it now so when we start with one syllable words or really short words all you have to do is to add an er sound so for example the basic adjective is cold the comparative adjective is colder and the superlative adjective is the coldest cold colder the coldest now remember when you say this one don't just say coldest remember to say the coldest whatever i've written on the board in red is what you need to add now there are two different things one is when you're speaking and one is when you're writing so you will see here on the board that there are some changes you need to make in spelling but first of all learn what to say because in the saying of it you don't need to spell anything all right later you can download a free resource that i've written that will explain to you exactly all of the changes you need to make also in in in the comparison and also in the spelling all right but that's later now let's just look at and understand the basic principles so one syllable short words are just like that large larger the largest hot hotter the hottest dry drier the driest okay yes there are spelling changes but again refer to the reference sheet for that right now just try to get the rhythm of it okay say it out loud with me now the next rule is when you have a two-syllable word with ends with y then we do this so let's take this example happy two syllables happy ending with y so we cancel the y and we add i e r happier okay happy happier the happiest this is the happiest day of my life okay all right busy busier the busiest this week i'm busy last week i was busier next week will be the busiest week of the month okay like that so one syllable just basically er or r two syllables ending with y i e r usually and now for every other word which is two syllables or more you have a different pattern okay so let's take an example modern ma dern two syllables right modern more modern and the most modern okay so now you see where this construction comes in right it's different from these here we're using more and the most the same for any word in english which is a little bit long when we say two syllables it means two three four syllables definitely longer words we're going to use this construction okay for example intelligent he's intelligent he's more intelligent he's the most intelligent okay so more and the most but we don't change the adjective itself so those are the three basic things that you have to remember if it's a very short word just go hot hotter hottest the hottest hot hotter the hottest okay when you're in a when you're saying the sentence it will come to you much more naturally happy happier the happiest okay and modern more modern the most modern all right that's the rule those are the basic rules and that will help you with any comparative or superlative adjectives that you want to use except for a few really they're not that many a few exceptions and down here i've written two of the most popular and the most common exceptions all right there are not too many exceptions so don't worry but these two are very common and you really must know them very well because if you make a mistake with these it doesn't look good it doesn't look good if you're doing an exam doesn't look good if you're going for a job interview or if you've written your resume or a cover letter or anything like that okay so don't make any of these mistakes down here at all so what are these two very popular adjectives which are exceptions good and bad so the party was good last week's party was better and this is the best party i've ever been to so here we have good better and the best so the words actually change we use different words okay also bad worse and the worst okay bad worse and the worst and remember to use that word the all right so these are the basic rules these are two exceptions there are maybe six or eight more again in the resource which you can download from for free from our website i will have written for you most of them almost all of them that really matter and which you need to know and also you'll be able to learn these spelling changes but before you go away let's check how much you've understood by doing a short quiz okay let's do that so as we do the quiz remember the three basic rules if it's one syllable if the adjective is one syllable in short give it a sound of er if it's two syllables but ends with y give it an i e r and if it's two or more syllables then we say more something or if it's superlative the most something all right i think you've got it let's get the rhythm of it now by doing some examples here we go the first word cheap make it comparative cheaper make it superlative the cheapest cheap cheaper the cheapest good healthy healthy healthier the healthiest good important important more important the most important good say it along with me okay you might even say it before me because you know it now okay noisy noisy noisier the noisiest bad remember that one that's an exception so we say bad worse the worst good beautiful beautiful more beautiful the most beautiful difficult more difficult the most difficult okay because again that was a long word many syllables right next one simple simple simpler and the simplest good remember that's an exception also so we say this is good that's better but this is the best okay and helpful helpful more helpful the most helpful okay try to get the rhythm of it you know if you if you get confused in any way first take a lot of short words one syllable words and just do that like cheap cheaper the cheapest you know you'll get the rhythm of it that way also say it aloud because your ears will also hear the difference and hear what's correct all right then take several examples from our resource sheet of the two-syllable words which end with y and say those allowed happy happier the happiest and so on okay friendly friendlier the friendliest and then take some long words those are usually the easiest so that will help you okay now if you really want to be sure that you know this very very well and it is really important then please go to our website at www.invid.com and there you can do a quiz on this and also download that free resource which can come in very handy and okay so if you like this lesson and you'd like to get more lessons like this please subscribe to my youtube channel and all the best with your english bye for now

Channel: Learn English with Rebecca · engVid

Views: 214,150

Keywords: er, est, more, most, suffix, comparative, superlative, adjectives, English grammar, vocabulary, English vocabulary, learn English, English class, English, native speaker, ESL, engVid, speak English, expressions, idioms, phrasal verbs, spoken English, lessons, IELTS, TOEFL, accent, TOEIC, anglais, inglese, inglés, Englisch, англи́йский, angielski, engleză, anglicky, αγγλικά, İngilizce, إنجليزي, Inggris, Angol, TESOL, TESL, TEFL

Id: cpQbmdKkNFs

Length: 13min 52sec (832 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020