Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Study grammar please!

  

 

Comparative

 

We use comparative adjectives with than to compare one person or thing with another.

Short adjectives have one or two syllables. Loud has one syllable. Pretty has two syllables. We add “er” to the adjective.

Examples: Loud-----louder     Pretty------prettier

Long adjectives don’t change the ending of the adjective. We put more before the adjective.

Examples: This book is more interesting than that book.

The opposite of more is less. We use less in the same way as more.

Ex: This book is less interesting than this book.

 Superlative

 

We use superlative adjectives to compare a person or thing with a group of other people or things.

We write “the” before the adjective and we add “est” to the adjective.

Ex: The loudest     The prettiest    The tallest    The Shortest

Long adjectives: We add “the most” before the adjective.

Example: This book is the most interesting.

The opposite of the most is the least.

Example: The least beautiful.

ADJECTIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
Good/Well	Better	The best
Bad	Worse	The worst
Much	More	The most
Far	The further	The furthest
Little	Less	The least

Test yourself and practice on the following links:

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-1/exercise-english-293.php

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-103155.php

http://www.learnenglish-online.com/grammar/tests/superlativecomparative.html

Zero conditional

Zero Conditional: Certainty

We use the so-called zero conditional when the result of the condition is always true, like a scientific fact.
Take some ice. Put it in a saucepan. Heat the saucepan.
What happens? The ice melts (it becomes water). You would be surprised if it did not.

IF	condition	result
	present simple	present simple
If	you heat ice	it melts.

Notice that we are thinking about a result that is always true for this condition. The result of the condition is an absolute certainty. We are not thinking about the future or the past, or even the present. We are thinking about a simple fact. We use the present simple tense to talk about the condition. We also use the present simple tense to talk about the result. The important thing about the zero conditional is that the condition always has the same result.

We can also use when instead of if, for example: When I get up late I miss my bus.

 

Look at some more examples in the tables below:

IF	condition	result
	present simple	present simple
If	I miss the 8 o'clock bus	I am late for work.
If	I am late for work	my boss gets angry.
If	people don't eat	they get hungry.
If	you heat ice	does it melt?

 

result	IF	condition
present simple		present simple
I am late for work	if	I miss the 8 o'clock bus.
My boss gets angry	if	I am late for work.
People get hungry	if	they don't eat.
Does ice melt	if	you heat it?