Forming regular comparatives and superlatives

1. We use comparatives to compare two things or two people. (e.g She is taller than her husband.)
2. Superlatives are used, however, to compare to show the difference between more than two things or more than two people. (e.g Paris is the biggest city in France)
3. To form comparatives and superlatives you need to know the number of syllables in the adjective. Syllables are like "sound beats".

For instance:

• "cheap" contains one syllable,
• but "EXPENSIVE" contains three — ex, pen and sive.

The rules to form comparatives and superlatives:1. One syllable adjective ending in a silent 'e' — nice

• Comparative — add 'r' — nicer
• Superlative — add 'st' — nicest

2. One syllable adjective ending in one vowel and one consonant — big

• Comparative — the consonant is doubled and 'er' is added --bigger
• Superlative — the consonant is doubled and 'est' is added--biggest

3. One syllable adjective ending in more than one consonant or more than a vowel — high, cheap

• Comparative — 'er' is added — higher, cheaper
• Superlative — 'est is added — highest, cheapest

4. A two syllable adjective ending in 'y' — happy

• Comparative — 'y' becomes 'i' and 'er' is added — happier
• Superlative — 'y' becomes 'i' and 'est' is added — happiest

5. Tow syllable or more adjectives without 'y' at the end -- exciting

• Comparative -- more + the adjective + than -- more exciting than
• Superlative -- more + the adjective + than -- the most exciting 

Examples:

• The Nile River is longer and more famous than the Thames.
• Egypt is much hotter than Sweden.
• Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
• This is one of the most exciting films I have ever seen.

Exceptions:

Adjectives               Comparatives                Superlatives
bad                             worse                                worst
far(distance)            farther                               farthest
far(extent)                further                               furthest
good                          better                                best
little                           less                                    least
many                         more                                  most
much                        more                                   most

VERY IMPORTANT!

Comparatives                                                                                                               
Comparatives are used to compare two things or two people:
Alan is taller than John.

Superlatives
Superlatives are used to compare more than two things or two people. Superlative sentences usually use 'the':
Alan is the most intelligent.
​SimilaritiesTo express similarities use the following structure:
... as + adjective + as ...Examples:

• Mike is as intelligent as Nancy.
• Larry is as popular as Oprah.

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