welcome to englishgrammarspot this lesson is about comparisons
Look at these sentences:
That man is old. That man is older than me.
That man is that oldest man I know.
The second and the third sentences are what we call comparisons.
The second sentence is a comparative,
The third sentnces is a superlative.
I will explain more about these two terms later on in the video.
In this lesson I'm going to show you how to make comparisons with adjectives,
the exceptions, so the irregular forms
comparisons with adverbs,
and obviously the exceptions there, a construction
that we call as and as and when to use
as or like. Now let's get started.
What is a comparative?
A comparative compares two things,
usually in combination with the word than.
My sister is taller than me.
The superlative compares three or more things usually
in combination with the. She is the tallest of them all.
So where the comparative only compared me my sister,
with the superlative my sister is compared to
everyone and we have concluded that she's the tallest.
Now how do we form comparisons?
When it concerns one syllable
adjectives such as old young and quick,
we simply add '-er' to the adjective for the comparative
and '-est' to the adjective for the superlative.
So we have the addictive old,
and the comparative older,
and the superlative is oldes. The same goes for young
young younger youngest and quick
quicker quickest. I'm going to show you some examples in sentences
For example: my grandfather is old,
my grandmother is older than him but their neighbour is the oldest person alive.
So my grandfather is old, is an adjective
because it says something about the noun
my grandfather, then when we compare my grandfather to my grandmother
we must conclude that my grandmother is older
so here we use a comparative but when we compare
their neighbour to my grandmother and grandfather
or more when he compare the neighbour of my grandmother
and grandfather to the rest of the world we must conclude that he is the
oldest so the superlative form.
I am young, my brother is younger than me
but my sister is the youngest in our family. A lion is quick
a leopard is quicker but a cheetah is the quickest of felines.
Please note,
1c politic tested end in it he
that end in an '-e' such as safe
we only add an 'r'or 'st':
safe safer safest.
Now it is a little bit trickier when it comes to two-syllable adjectives,
when this stress is on the second syllable
we add 'er'or 'est' to the adjective
for example: quiet
quieter quietest. The stress
in quiet is on the final syllable quiet
so we add 'er' or 'est'.
quiet quieter quietest
Yet when the stress is on the first syllable
we put more in front of the comparative,
and most in front of the superlative so we don't use
'er' or 'est.' For example
silent, more silent
most silent. Please note that the stress in silent
is on the first syllable,
Adjectives with three syllables or more we simply put
more or most before the addictive. So more for the comparative
and most for the superlative. London is beautiful,
yet I consider Venice more beautiful and in my opinion
Paris is the most beautiful city in the world.
Now obviously
there are some exceptions. First
that we call 'leersomeowy'
these adjectives that and ens in the letter above
and they contain two or more syllables with the stress
on the second syllable. With these words we also add
-er or -est.
little, littler, littlest.
clever, cleverer, cleverest.
handsome, handsomer, handsomest.
narrow narrower narrowest.
happy, happier, happiest and please note that the
'y' has become an 'i'.
the general exceptions are: good, better, best.
bad, worse, worst much or many, more and most
and far, further, furthest.
These are the most common ones and it is advisable that you just simply study
them because there's no rule to follow here
and please note that bad badder baddest is incorrect.
Now let's have a look at adverbs.
One syllable adverbs such as hard, late and fair,
we also add -er for the comparative or -est for the superlative.
fast faster fastest
late later latest fair, fairer, fairest
For example I drive fast, yet my mom
drives faster, but my little brother drives the fastest.
Please note that an adverbs here says something about the verb,
the way we drive. The train arrived late,
luckily my connecting shuttle bus was later and thankfully my plane departed
the latest of them all.
when it comes to two or more syllable adverbs such as
easily carefully and calmly
we put more for the comparative or most
for the superlatives before the adverb: For example: easily
more easily most easily, carefully
more carefully most carefully, calmly
more calmly, most calmly.
For example: He drove easily or carefully
through the desert, yet he drove more easily
more carefully through the woods and most
easily or most carefully on the highway.
also with the adverbs there are some exceptions.
The irregular forms: well, better, best.
Remeber with the adjectives it was
good, better, best.
little, less, least. much more most
Now let's have a look at the construction that we call 'as ... as'
Here again we are comparing two things
So this goes for as ...as or not as ... as or
not so ... as.
She's as tall as me.
So we both have the same height. She's not as tall as my sister.
as my sister now you can use
Now we can use not as, but we can also use
not so ...as, there is no difference there. So she's not
so tall as my sister.
now let's have a look at like... as.
In speech these two can be used similarily,
Such as why don't you go by bike as I do why did you go by bike like I do.
Yet there is a difference. Please note:
He lives like a rich man in Malibu.
He lives as a rich man in Malibu. Here we have a change in meaning,
if someone lives like a rich man in Malibu, he is not necessarily rich,
when we say he lives as a rich man in Malibu,
this person is definitely rich so here there is a difference in meaning.
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