Irregular comparatives and superlatives

IRREGULAR COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

These adjectives have completely irregular comparative and superlative forms:

THE + SUPERLATIVE

'the' is placed before the superlative:

For example:

• He is the richest man in the world.
• That is the biggest crocodile I have ever seen.
• She is the tallest girl in her class.

COMPARATIVE + THAN

To compare the difference between two people, things or events.

Examples:

• Mt. Everest is higher than Mt. Blanc.
• Thailand is sunnier than Norway.
• A car is more expensive than a bicycle.
• Albert is more intelligent than Arthur.

AS + ADJECTIVE + AS

To compare people, places, events or things, when there is no difference, use as + adjective + as:

PROIECT: Absurdul - categorie estetico-literara derivata din cultivarea in fertilele PROIECT: INCEPUTURILE LITERATURII CULTE (primii scriitori „profesionisti”)

• Peter is 24 years old. John is 24 years old. Peter is as old as John.

More examples:

• Moscow is as cold as St. Petersburg in the winter.
• Ramona is as happy as Raphael.
• Einstein is as famous as Darwin.
• A tiger is as dangerous as a lion.

NOT AS + ADJECTIVE + AS

Difference can also be shown by using not so/as as:

• Mont Blanc is not as high as Mount Everest
• Norway is not as sunny as Thailand
• A bicycle is not as expensive as a car
• Arthur is not as intelligent as Albert

COMPARISONS OF QUANTITY

To show difference: more, less, fewer + than

Examples:

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.

So, the rule is:

MORE + nouns that are countable or uncountable
FEWER + countable nouns
LESS + uncountable nouns

To show no difference: as much as, as many as, as few as, as little as

• as many as / as few as + countable nouns
• as much as / as little as + uncountable nouns

Examples:

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.