Comparative Adjectives Quiz: Formation and Comparison

Study Notes

Comparative Adjectives

Comparative adjectives are used to compare two nouns. They are formed by adding an -er suffix to the base form of a comparative adjective, for example, "more beautiful" from "beautiful". However, there are irregular adjectives that do not follow this pattern and have unique forms, such as "better", "worse", "larger", and "smaller".

Comparative adjectives can also be formed using the words "more" and "most". For example, "more intelligent" or "most difficult". These expressions often indicate degrees of comparison with other concepts.

Formation of Comparative Adjectives Using Infix '-er'

The formation of comparative adjectives is relatively straightforward when they end in a consonant+vowel combination followed by another vowel (e.g., "good", "strong"). When forming the comparative form, you simply add "-er":

Add "-er" to the base form of the adjective: "good" becomes "better".
If the word ends with a consonant + "le", drop the second "le" before adding "-er": "mobile" becomes "more mobile".

For exceptions, see the list below:

Base Form	Comparative Form
Beautiful	More beautiful
Clever	More clever
Good	Better
Strong	Stronger
Tough	Tougher
Wise	Wiser

Formation of Comparative Adjectives Using Infix '-r'

Certain comparative adjectives have unique forms with "-r" inserted between syllables and before the last letter of the base form:

Drop the final letter, insert -r-, and add -e: "heavy" becomes "heavier".
Drop the final letter, insert -r-, add -er: "frequent" becomes "more frequent".
Drop the final letter, add -r-, add -er: "near" becomes "nearer".

Irregular Comparative Adjectives

For reasons of analogy, some adjectives have irregular comparatives that do not form by adding "-er" or "-er" to the base form of the adjective. These irregular comparatives are sometimes the past participle form of the adjective:

"Better" is the comparative form of "good".
"Worse" is the comparative form of "bad".
"Faster" is the comparative form of "fast".
"Nearer" is the comparative form of "near".

Other Comparative Forms

Comparative adjectives are used in a variety of structures, including comparative clauses and comparative constructions. For example:

"He is taller than John."
"The car is faster than a bike."
"She is more intelligent than he is."

In each of these sentences, the comparative adjective forms are used to compare two or more entities.

Description

Test your knowledge on the formation of comparative adjectives in English. Learn about how to create comparative adjectives using infixes like '-er' and '-r', as well as irregular forms like 'better', 'worse', and 'larger'. Explore examples and exceptions to understand the rules better.