COMPARISON

The three different forms of comparison are the positive, the comparative and the superlative.

A Short Story

A Wise Old Owl 

There was an old owl that lived in an oak. Everyday he saw incidents happening around him. 

Yesterday he saw a boy helping an old man to carry a heavy basket. 

Today he saw a girl shouting at her mother. The more he saw the less he spoke. 

As he spoke less, he heard more. He heard people talking and telling stories. He heard a woman saying that an elephant jumped over a fence. He also heard a man saying that he had never made a mistake. 


The old owl had seen and heard about what happened to people. Some became better and some became worse. But the old owl had become wiser each and every day. 
Moral of the story : 

You should be observant, talk less but listen more. This will make you a wise person. 

Do you want to read more stories? Click on the link below:

http://www.english-for-students.com/Moral-Stories.html

Comparatives and Superlatives Quiz

Comparison of Adverbs

Comparison (-er/-est)

	Comparative ending in -er	Superlative ending in -est
one-syllable adverbs (hard)	harder	hardest
adverbs with the same form as adjectives (early)	earlier	earliest

Comparison (more / most)

	Comparative formed with more	Superlative formed with most
adverbs ending in -ly (happily)	more happily	most happily

Irregular comparisons

positive form	comparative	superlative
well	better	best
badly	worse	worst
ill	worse	worst
little	less	least
much	more	most
far (place + time)	further	furthest
far (place)	farther	farthest
late (time)	later	latest	Exercise

Songs with Examples of Comparatives

Video: Comparative and Superlative Adjectives (British Council-LearnEnglish Teens)

 Watch and listen to the video:
Sophie is working in Rome this week. Oliver, Alfie and Daisy have decided to eat out tonight.

When we want to compare two or more things, we can change the form of adjectives by adding –er or –est. We can also use extra words like more or most and expressions like not as … as

Interactive Book: Comparative Forms

Interactive Book. Comparative Forms

Click here to do the activities (Didipages)

Exercise: degrees of comparison

Complete the following sentences using an adjective or adverb of the appropriate degree.
1. Who is the ………………….. bowler in your team ? (fast / faster / fastest)
2. Charles Lamb is one of the …………….. writers. (fascinating / more fascinating / most fascinating)
3. I have not come across a ……………….. friend than Ramesh. (reliable / more reliable / most reliable)
4. You should not take …………….. than 40 minutes to do this work. (much / more / most)
5. No …………….. did the police arrive than the mob dispersed. (soon / sooner / soonest)
6. Which is the ……………. river in the world? (long / longer / longest)
7. Who is the ………………….. runner in the world? (fast / faster / fastest)
8. Sometimes, the cure is ……………. than the disease. (bad / worse / worst)
9. Take the ………………. of the two routes. (short / shorter / shortest)
10. I got up ………….. than usual today. (early / earlier / earliest)
Answers

Comparison of Quantity. Nouns

TO SHOW DIFFERENCE: 
MORE, LESS, FEWER + THAN 
MORE + nouns that are countable or uncountable
FEWER + countable nouns
LESS + uncountable nouns
With countable nouns: more / fewer

Eloise has more children than Chantal.
Chantal has fewer children than Eloise.
There are fewer dogs in Cardiff than in Bristol
I have visited fewer countries than my friend has.
He has read fewer books than she has.
With uncountable nouns: more / less
Eloise has more money than Chantal.
Chantal has less money than Eloise.
I spend less time on homework than you do.
Cats drink less water than dogs.
This new dictionary gives more information than the old one.  
TO SHOW NO DIFFERENCE: 
AS MUCH AS , AS LITTLE AS (uncountable nouns)
AS MANY AS,  AS FEW AS      (countable nouns)
With countable nouns:
They have as many children as us.
We have as many customers as them.
Tom has as few books as Jane.
There are as few houses in his village as in mine.
You know as many people as I do.
I have visited the States as many times as he has.
With uncountable nouns:
John eats as much food as Peter.
Jim has as little food as Sam.
You've heard as much news as I have.
He's had as much success as his brother has.
They've got as little water as we have.
 

Comparing Adjectives and Adverbs

 

Comparison

Formation of comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

ADJECTIVES	Positive	comparative	superlative
one syllable	old new big	older newer            (than) bigger	the oldest the newest the biggest
two syllables	happy clever narrow	happier cleverer        (than) narrower	the happiest the cleverest the narrowest
two or more syllables	honest careful unfriendly intelligent	honest more   careful   (than)            unfriendly            intelligent	honest the most careful               unfriendly                intelligent
Irregular Forms	good/well bad far much/many little few	better worse farther/further more less fewer	the best the worst the furthest/ farthest the most the least the fewest
ADVERBS	hard fast quietly	harder faster more quietly	the hardest the fastest the most quietly

Equality:                                                                       Inferiority:

She's twice as old as her sister.                             He's less strong than his brother

He's not as stupid as he looks!                              They are less stupid than we think.

I'm almost as good at math as at science.          This book is less exciting.

 This book is not as exciting as the last one.       I bought the least expensive dress.

ACTIVITIES

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6