Adjectives: superlative

Adjectives can have superlative forms. They are used to show extremes when comparing people, things, actions and events.

We usually use ‘the’ before superlative adjective forms:

• Michael is the tallest player on our team.
• Of all her friends, Emily is the nicest.
• This is the best restaurant in town. Their pizzas are the biggest and the most delicious.

Rules for forming superlative adjectives

1. To make superlative forms of most one- and two-syllable adjectives, add ‘-est’ to them (or ‘-st’, if the adjective ends in ‘-e’):

• Fast → The cheetah is the fastest animal in the world.
• Old → John is the oldest son in his family.
• Low → This is the lowest point of the valley.

2. If an adjective ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant before ‘-est’:

• Big → Whales are the biggest mammals.
• Hot → This has been the hottest day of the summer.

3. For two-syllable adjectives ending in ‘-y’, remove the ‘-y’ and add ‘-iest’:

• Happy → It’s my birthday, and I’m the happiest person in the world.
• Early → When does the earliest train from London arrive?    

4. Some common short adjectives have irregular forms:

• Good → better → This is the best movie I’ve ever seen.
• Bad  → worse → The worst things always happen unexpectedly.
• Far → further → Tom dreams about visiting the furthest corners of the Earth.

5. To make superlative forms of long adjectives (three syllables and more), use ‘the most’ + adjective:

• This is the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.
• Sport cars are the most expensive vehicles.

The opposite of ‘most’ is ‘least’. Use ‘least’ before long adjectives:

• This region is the least comfortable for leaving.
• The first two chapters were the least interesting in the whole book.

To show that the superlative adjective belongs to a group of similar things, use ‘one of’:

• Shanghai is one of the biggest cities in the world.
• The Miniature Pinscher is one of the smallest dogs.

We can use superlative adjectives without a noun:

• These flowers are not very expensive, but they are the most beautiful.
• You wouldn’t find any other prices, these are the lowest.

Adjectives: comparative

Adjectives can have a comparative form. This form is used to compare people, things, actions and events.

When comparing two things, we usually use comparative adjective + ‘than’:

• Peter is taller than Mike.
• This city is more interesting than my hometown.
• Today I am happier than yesterday.

Rules for forming comparative adjectives

1. To make comparative forms of one-syllable adjectives, add ‘-er’ to them (or ‘-r’, if the adjective ends in ‘-e’):

• New → My smartphone is newer than yours.
• Old → The population in this country is getting older.
• Close → Please come closer.

2. If an adjective ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant before ‘-er’:

• Big → An elephant is bigger than a car.
• Hot → It’s getting hotter outside.

3. For two-syllable adjectives ending in ‘-y’, remove the ‘-y’ and add ‘-ier’:

• Early → I’ll probably take an earlier train.
• Friendly → Dogs are usually friendlier than cats.    

4. Some common short adjectives have irregular forms:

• Good → Kate was offered a better job.
• Bad  → The weather today is worse than yesterday.
• Far → Germany is further from Belarus than Poland.

5. To make comparative forms of long adjectives (three syllables and more), use ‘more’ + adjective + ‘than’:

• This meadow is more beautiful than the other one.
• This book is more interesting than I expected.

The opposite of ‘more’ is ‘less’. Use ‘less’ before adjectives with two syllables and more:

• For Peter, biology is less difficult than physics.
• Squats are less tiring than push-ups.

6. To make a negative comparison, we can use ‘not as’ + adjective + ‘as’. We can also use the opposite word:

• For Peter, biology is not as difficult as physics.
• For Peter, biology is easier than physics.

7. To emphasize a comparison, we can use modifiers like ‘a lot’, ‘much’, ‘a bit’, ‘slightly’, ‘far’ before comparative forms of adjectives:

• This house is much smaller than the other houses.
• A car is a lot more expensive than a bicycle.
• The plane looks slightly bigger than I expected.
• Your shoes are much more beautiful than mine.

Adjectives: gradable and non-gradable

Adjectives can be gradable or non-gradable. 

Gradable adjectives can be made stronger or weaker. For this purpose, we use adverbs like ‘very’, ‘pretty’ and ‘rather’ before them:

• This cake is very tasty.
• That movie was really interesting.
• Mary is extremely tired.

We do not use adverbs like ‘very’, ‘pretty’ and ‘rather’ for non-gradable adjectives.

For example, freezing already means very cold. Think about the meaning of the words:

• It’s freezing outside. (Very cold.)
• That film was terrifying. (Very scary.)
• This meal is delicious. (Very tasty.)

Nouns: possession

Possessive ’s – with People

We can use ’s to show possession. We can use it to describe relationships between people – or people and objects.

• Tony is Ann’s (=her) husband. (NOT: Tony is the husband of Ann.)

• Ann is Tony’s (=his) wife.
• Ann is Mark’s (=his) mother.
• Tony is Mark’s (=his) father.
• This is Martin’s camera. (NOT: This is the camera of Martin.)
• We spent the day at my sister’s house.
• These are my boyfriend’s socks.
• Mr Lewis’s house is for sale.

In the following examples, just use one ‘’s’:

• Mark is Ann and Tony’s (=their) son. (NOT: Mark is Ann’s and Tony’s son.)

• Ann and Tony are Sarah and Julia’s parents. (NOT: Ann and Tony are Sarah’s and Julia’s parents.)

When the noun is plural, write the apostrophe after the ‘s’:

• Mark’s sisters’ names are Ann and Julia. (NOT: Mark’s sister’s names are…’)

(‘Mark’ is singular but ‘sisters’ is plural.)

• Mark’s parents’ names are Ann and Tony.

If the plural is irregular, use ’s as normal:

• Ann is the children’s mother.
• This shop only sells women’s clothes.

Possessive ’s – with Animals

• This is the dog’s food.
• One of the cat’s feet is black.

Using ‘of’ with Objects

We usually use ‘of’ with objects:

• The windows of that house are dirty. (NOT: That house’s windows are dirty.)

• What is the name of this village? (NOT: What is this village’s name?)

• We didn’t see the first part of the movie. (NOT: We didn’t see this movie’s first part.)

Possession: determiners, pronouns, apostrophe + s

Possession tells us who owns what. We can use determiners, possessive pronouns and apostrophe + s to show possession.

Determiners show who owns a noun:

• This is my book.
• That’s your problem.
• Cindy is visiting her mother.
• Tom is cleaning his room.

We use possessive pronouns after a verb:

• This is my pencil → This pencil is mine.
• That is her dress → That dress is hers.
• These are our coats → These coats are ours.

Determiners and possessive pronouns have different forms:

We can add apostrophe + s to a noun to show possession. We put the other noun after:

• Nick’s house looks clean.
• Selena’s books are on the floor.
• It’s nobody’s fault.