English Today

Comparatives and Superlatives - Practice

Grammar Reference

A. Fill in the blanks with the correct comparative or superlative form of the word in brackets and the appropriate preposition (in or of) where necessary.

I went on holiday last year but it was a disaster. My hotel room was 1)-----smaller than--------(small) the one in the photograph in the brochure. I think it was 2) ------------(small) room --------- the hotel. The weather was terrible too. It was 3) -------------(cold) in England. The beach near the hotel was very dirty - it was 4) ----------------(dirty) all the beaches on the island. The food was 5) ------------(expensive) I expected and I didn't have enough money. One day I went shopping in a big department store and I broke a vase. It was 6) -------------(expensive) vase -------- the whole shop. But 7) -----------(bad) thing -------all was that I lost my passport and I couldn't go back home. It was 8) ------------(horrible) holiday -------- my life.

B. Fill in the blanks with the correct comparative or superlative form of the word in brackets.

M: I'm happy I'm not a woman.

W: Why?

M: Men are 1)--------better-than-----(good) women.

W: But you are 2)----------------(stupid) person I know!!

M: Don't be horrible. Men are 3)-------------------------(intelligent) ------------- women. They are 4) --------------------(logical) and 5) --------------------(good) cooks. ------------ women.

W: Your ideas are 6) -------------------(old-fashioned) --------------- mine. I think women are 7) -------------------------(clever). They are 8) ------------------------(sensible) and 9) --------------------(practical) ------------- men are. - and men are 10) ------------------(bad) drivers ----------------- women because women are 11) ------------------(patient).

M: But men are 12) ------------------------(athletic).

W: Oh, please, let's talk about something else. This is 13) ------------------------(ridiculous) conversation I have ever had!

Source : Round-Up 4 by Virginia Evans

ANSWERS

A. 2)the smallest / in 3) colder than 4) the dirtiest of 5) more expensive than 6) the most expensive / in 7) the worst / of 8) the most horrible / of

B. 2) the most stupid 3) more intelligent than 4) more logical 5) better....than 6) more old-fashioned than 7) cleverer / more clever 8) more sensible 9) more practical than 10) worse.....than 11)more patient 12) more athletic 13) the most ridiculous

Adjectives & Adverbs - Comparatives & Superlatives

A.    ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

 

An adjective  is a word that describes a noun :

 

A good man

A beautiful girl

A tall boy

 

An adverb is a word that describes a verb: they tell us how we do something.

 

How does he sing? He sings beautifully.

How did he talk? He talked angrily.

 

To form an adverb, we add –ly to the adjective:

 

Nice – nicely

Bad – badly

Beautiful – beautifully

 Spelling

 

1. When an adjective ends in –y, we drop –y and add –ily

 

Angry – angrily

Easy – easily

 

2. When an adjective ends in –le, we drop –e and add –y

Horrible – horribly

Terrible – terribly

Possible – possibly

 

3. Irregular Adverbs

 

ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
Good	Well
Fast	Fast
Hard	Hard
Late	Late

.

B.    Comparative and Superlative of Adverbs

 

Comparative: more / less + adverb + than

John sings more beautifully than Tom

I did Exercise A more easily than Exercise B.

 

BUT! Tina draws better than Mary.

          Tom runs faster than John.

           Jane works harder than Peter.

 

Superlative : the most / the least + adverb

 

John sings more beautifully than Tom but Pete sings the most beautifully.

I did Exercise A more easily than Exercise B but I did Exercise C the most easily.

 

BUT! Tina draws better than Mary but Sue draws the best.

Tom runs faster than John but Bill runs the fastest.

Jane works harder than Peter but Lucy works the hardest.

 

C.    Comparative and Superlative of Adjectives

 

Adjective of:	Example	Comparative	Superlative
One syllable	tall	Taller (than)	The tallest(of/in)
Two syllables ending in: -ly/-y	Happy Friendly	Happier(than) Friendlier (than)	The happiest The friendliest
Two or more syllables	Modern Beautiful	More / less modern (than) More / less beautiful (than)	The most / the least modern The most / the leastbeautiful

Spelling

 

Adjectives ending in:	Comparative	Superlative	Example
Consonant+  -y	-ier	-iest	Pretty-prettier-the prettiest
-e	Add -r	Add -st	Large-larger-the largest
One stressed vowel between two consonants	Double the last consonant and add -er	Double the last consonant and add -est	Fat-fatter-the fattest

 

Irregular Adjectives

 

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
much	more	most
many	more	most
little	less	least
far	further / farther	furthest /  farthest

 

We use the comparative to compare two things or people. We use the superlative to compare one with many.

 

Examples

 

Marina is taller than Jean but Joanna is the tallest girl in the class.

July is hotter than June but August is the hottest month of the year.

Exercise A is easier than Exercise B but Exercise C is the easiest.

D.    Types of Comparison

 

1. as……as / not as….as

 – to show that two things or people are or are not similar:

 

Paul  is as heavy as Tom.

Jane is not as tall as Mary.

My house is as big as yours.

 

2. the + comparative…..the + comparative

- to show changes / processes that take place at the same time:

 

The harder you work, the happier the teacher is.

The warmer it gets, the better I like it.

The bigger the house, the longer it takes to clean.

 

Also (showing gradual increase):

Our lessons are getting harder and harder this year.

Summers in my country are getting hotter and hotter.

IGCSE Exam Practice - Reading Comprehension

Read the following article and choose the best answer

The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change, Australian and US climate researchers reported Wednesday. Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water, contributing to a rise in sea levels that is submerging small island nations and threatening to wreak havoc in low-lying, densely-populated delta regions around the globe.

The study, published in the British journal Nature, adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences rising oceans. It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to the authors.

Rising sea levels are driven by two things: the thermal expansion of sea water, and additional water from melting sources of ice. Both processes are caused by global warming. The ice sheet that sits atop Greenland, for example, contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven metres (23 feet), which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai.

Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change, and forecasting future temperature rises, scientists say. But up to now, there has been a perplexing gap between the projections of computer-based climate models, and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans.

The new study, led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, is the first to reconcile the models with observed data. Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 metres (2,300 feet) from 1961 to 2003, it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimetre-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.

(c) AFP 12/23/2008

1. What happens when the ocean's temperature rises?
  (a) It causes sea levels to rise.
  (b) It causes sea levels to remain constant.
  (c) It causes sea levels to decrease.

2. The rise in water levels is especially dangerous for small island nations and:
  (a) low-lying urban areas.
  (b) all coastal cities.
  (c) people who live on the beach.

3. The new study:
  (a) shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.32 millimeter-per-year rise in sea levels.
  (b) did not reveal anything that scientists didn't already know.
  (c) used new techniques to assess ocean temperatures.

4. Ultimately, the new study should help scientists to:
  (a) lower water levels.
  (b) better predict climate change.
  (c) bury sea-level cities like Dhaka and Shanghai.

5. What was the main finding of the study?
  (a) That not enough is being done about global warming.
  (b) That ocean waters have warmed faster than scientists had previously thought.
  (c) That the warming of the world's oceans is not a threat.

SOURCE: infosquares

ANSWERS

1a / 2a / 3c / 4b / 5b