FORMATION OF COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE

Most Adjectives of one syllable, and some of more than one, form the comparative by adding er and the superlative by adding est to the Positive.

Positive	Comparative		Superlative
Sweet	Sweeter		Sweetest
Small	Smaller		Smallest
Tall	Taller		Tallest
Bold	Bolder		Boldest
Clever	Cleverer	Cleverest
Kind	Kinder	Kindest
Young	Younger	Youngest
Great	Greater	greatest

 When the Positive ends in e, only r and st are added.

Brave	Braver	Bravest
Fine	Finer	Finest
White	Whiter	Whitest
Large	Larger	Largest
Able	Abler	Ablest
Noble	Nobler	Noblest
Wise	Wiser	wisest

When the Positive ends in y, preceded by a consonant, the y is changed into I before adding er and est.

Happy	Happier	Happiest
Easy	Easier	Easiest
Heavy	Heavier	Heaviest
Merry	Merrier	Merriest
Wealthy	Wealthier	wealthiest

 When the Positive is a word of one syllable and ends in a single consonant, preceded by a short vowel, this consonant is doubled before adding er and est.

Red	Redder	Reddest
Big	Bigger	Biggest
Hot	Hotter	Hottest
Thin	Thinner	Thinnest
Sad	Sadder	Saddest
Fat	Fatter	fattest

Adjective of more than two syllabus form the Comparative and superlative by putting more and most before the Positive.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Beautiful	More beautiful	Most beautiful
Difficult	More difficult	Most difficult
Industrious	More industrious	Most industrious
Courageous	More courageous	Most courageous

Two – syllable adjectives ending in ful ( e.g. useful), less (e.g. hopeless), ing 9e.g. boring) and ed ( e.g … surprised) and many others ( e.g. modern, recent, foolish, famous, certain ) take more and most.

The following take either and est more and most:

 Polite simple feeble gentle narrow

Cruel common handsome pleasant stupid

She is politer/more polite than her sister.

He is the politest/ most polite of them.

the Comparative in er is not used when we compare two qualities in the same person or thing. If we wish to say that courage of Rama is greater than the courage of Balu, we say,

 Rama is braver than Balu.

But if we wish to say that the courage of Rama is greater than his prudence, we must say,

   Rama is more brave than prudent.

When two objects are compared with each other, the latter term of comparison must exclude the former; as,

 Iron is more useful than any other metal.

If we say,

  Iron is more useful than any metal.