Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Forms of Adjectives

1. Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Forms of Adjectives Mark Samford

2. Positive Form • The positive form describes a noun or pronoun w/out comparing it to anyone or anything else. • Ex.=Fast, sweet, smart, bright, tall. • The fast car sped away.

3. Comparative Form • The comparative form of an adjective compares two persons, places, things, or ideas. (add-er) • Faster, sweeter, smarter, brighter, taller. • Mr. Samford’s car is faster than a speeding bullet.

4. Superlative Form • The superlative form compares three or more persons, places, things, or ideas. • Fastest, sweetest, smartest, brightest, tallest. • Mr. Samford’s car is the fastest in the race. • Help: Place the word “the” in front of the adjective for the superlative form. • The fastest, the sweetest, etc.

5. Irregular Forms? • Some adjectives use different words to express comparison. • Good, better, best. • Bad, worse, worst. • Good for enrichment exercises.

6. Two-Syllable Adjective Forms • For enrichment. • Some two-syllable adjectives show comparisons by er/est suffixes, or by modifiers such as more or most. • Ex.= lazy, lazier, laziest. • lazy, more lazy, most lazy.

7. Three or More Syllable Adjective Forms • Adjectives that have three or more syllables usually require the words, more/most or less/least. • Ex.= difficult, more difficult, most difficult, less difficult, least difficult.

8. Back to Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Forms of Adjectives • How will “I” remember these simple rules? • Well, it’s as easy as 1,2,3 • Positive= 1 The adjective describes a noun (1) or pronoun w/out any comparison. • Comparative= 2 The adjective ends in “er” (2) so, two nouns or pronouns are compared. • Superlative= 3 The adjective ends in “est” (3) so, three or more persons, places, or ideas are compared.

9. Some Web Help • www.lousywriter.com • www.eflnet.com • www.selfimprovement-advice.org/positive(comparative, superlative)-adjectives