Guest post by Lori Wolfe
Teaching Comparatives and Superlatives
Teaching comparatives and superlatives can be fun and rewarding. With instruction, students quickly learn how to express themselves with greater accuracy using grammatical forms.
Do you know the rules to teach your students concerning comparatives and superlatives?
Use comparatives to compare and use superlatives to tell about how one thing is the best, worst, etc.
Comparatives
Let’s take a look at comparatives first. Comparative is the grammar used when comparing two things.? ?The two basic English grammar forms we use to compare are:
- as…as (She is as tall as I am)
When comparing with as…as, the adjective does not change.
- than (She is taller than I am.)
When comparing with than it becomes a little more tricky! Some changes are needed when using than depending on how many syllables are in the adjective.
Let’s take a closer look!
Number of syllables in the ADJECTIVES | Rule | Example |
1 syllables | add er | Cool to cooler |
2 syllables ending in –y | change the –y to–i and add er | Happy to happier |
Other 2 syllable adjectives | use more with the unchanged adjective | Alert to more alert |
3 or more syllables | use more with the unchanged adjective | Excited to more excited |
Superlatives
Let’s now take a look at superlatives. Superlative is the grammar used to talk about only one thing. We talk in the superlative to express how that one thing is the best, or the worst, etc.
Number of syllables in the ADJECTIVES | Rule | Example |
1 syllable | add est | fastest |
2 syllables ending in –y | change the –y to–i and add est | Funny to funniest |
Other 2 syllable adjectives | use the most with the unchanged adjective | Foolish to the most foolish |
3 or more syllables | use the most with the unchanged adjective | Inquisitive to the most inquisitive |
Of course there are irregular comparative and superlative forms! It is English after all!
- Good, better, the best
- Bad, worse, the worst
Where can I get more information about teaching comparatives and superlatives?
Frankfurt International School has an excellent, clear and informative page on comparative and superlative rules.
Click here for a downloadable template to help you teach comparatives and superlatives.
Let us know – how do you teach comparatives and superlatives?
About the Author
Lori Wolfe has taught English Language Development, bilingual 1st & 2nd grades, and as a Title I Reading and Math specialist. She also presents professional development workshops, develops curriculum and blogs. Follow her blogs at Fun To Teach ESL and Fun To Teach Math Blog for more great teaching ideas, tips, freebies and more. You can also find Fun To Teach on Facebook.