What is Adjectives? (Degrees of Comparison) – Easy to Learn Guide with examples

Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns. E.g.  Happy, fast, big, old. An adjective can add color and life to your sentence, and it can add important information.

1. That cat is big.
2. We will not drive the old car.
3. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
4. He was fast.
5. The air balloon was yellow, big and round.

In the above sentences, big, old, quick, brown, lazy, fast, yellow, big and round are adjectives. All these words are describing or somehow modifying a noun.

Type of Adjectives

Adjectives come in three forms:

1. Absolute,
2. Comparative,
3. Superlative.

Absolute adjectives describe something in its own right. It is a normal adjective that’s used to describe, not compare.

1. She is a beautiful lady.
2. It was a memorable trip.
3. Priya is tired.
4. Suresh is witty.
5. My sister has a beautiful white dress.
6. My handsome brother is solving a mathematical puzzle.
7. Naina has an amazing collection of expensive, clay dolls.
8. The big, blue, square box was gifted to me by my friend.
9. I bought a pair of black leather shoes.
10. I love the big, old, green antique ring.

Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster, higher). Or, it is also used to compare the state of an object at different time.

1. My house is bigger than that one.
2. This red flower is more beautiful than the pink one.
3. I am taller than my sister.
4. Raman is more intelligent than his brother.
5. My job is worse than yours.
6. I made my cough sound worse than it actually was.
7. His cat is larger than my dog.
8. This book is more boring than the last one.
9. Suresh is funnier than Mahesh.
10. This swimming pool is bigger than that one.

Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest).

1. Sushma is the eldest of the four sisters.
2. The white puppy is the sleepiest puppy of the litter.
3. This is the prettiest dress in the shop.
4. Jonathan is the most handsome man on campus.
5. This is the worst phase of my life.
6. I lost my most comfortable shoes.
7. Salman is playing the kind of role that suits him best.
8. This is the most crucial match of the season.
9. That is by far, the tallest tree I have ever seen in my entire life.
10. Mr. Mohan is the best teacher.

Comparative and Superlative for adjectives

One Syllable Adjective

We can form comparative and superlative of one syllable adjectives by putting ‘er’ or ‘est’ at the end of the adjectives respectively.

• If a one-syllable adjective ends in a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter, the consonant letter is doubled, e.g. thin – thinner/thinnest, big – bigger/biggest.
• If an adjective ends in -e, this is removed when adding -er/-est, e.g. wide – wider/widest.
• If an adjective ends in a consonant followed by -y, -y is replaced by –I when adding -er/-est, e.g. dry – drier/driest.

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
bright      tall  small high sharp hard light safe brave nice fine ripe fat big sad soft thin wide dry	brighter  taller  smaller higher sharper harder lighter safer braver nicer finer riper fatter bigger sadder softer thinner wider drier	brightest  tallest  smallest highest sharpest hardest lightest safest bravest nicest finest ripest fattest biggest saddest softest thinnest widest driest

 

Two Syllable Adjective

For two syllable adjectives ending in e, y, er, ly, we normally put er or est at the end of the adjectives.

• If an adjective ends in a consonant followed by -y, -y is replaced by –I when adding -er/-est. e.g., happy – happier/happiest.
• If an adjective ends in -e, this is removed when adding -er/-est. e.g. simple – simpler/simplest.
• Two-syllable adjectives ending in -ed, -ing, -ful, or -less always form the comparative with more and the superlative with most.

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
happy  funny  clever  silly  pretty  early  noisy  quietbusysimplelucky tidy worried boring careful useless	happier  funnier  cleverer  sillier  prettier  earlier  noisier  quieterbusiersimplerluckier tidier more worried more boring more careful more useless	happiest  funniest  cleverest   silliest  prettiest  earliest  noisiest  quietestbusiestsimplestluckiest tidiest most worried most boring most careful most useless

 

Three Syllable Adjective

We can form comparative and superlative of three or more syllable adjectives by putting more or most before the adjectives.

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
interesting  important  frightening  amusing  expensive doubtful obscure often	more interesting  more important  more frightening  more amusing  more expensive more doubtful more obscure more often	most interesting  most important  most frightening  most amusing  most expensivemost doubtful most obscure most often

 

Some adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative form.

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
bad  far  good  little  many/much  old	worse  farther/further  better  less  more  older/elder	worst  farthest/furthest  best  least  most  oldest/eldest

 

I hope this tutorial gave you clarification on what is adjectives and how you can use them to update your English language skills.

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