English grammar practice exercise, for pre-intermediate and intermediate level.
In this exercise you will practise comparative and superlative adjectives, including their spelling and irregularities.
Instructions: Choose the correct answer in the following sentences:
| Comparative and superlative adjectives: basic rules | |||
| Type of adjective | Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
| Short adjectives (one-syllable adjectives) |
old long |
older longer |
the oldest the longest |
| Adjectives ending with one vowel and one consonant |
big hot |
bigger hotter |
the biggest the hottest |
| Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y |
ugly noisy messy |
uglier noisier messier |
the ugliest the noisiest the messiest |
| Longer adjectives (adjectives with two or more syllables) |
careful expensive beautiful |
more careful more expensive more beautiful |
the most careful the most expensive the most beautiful |
| With some two-syllable adjectives both -er/-est endings and more/most are possible. |
polite common |
more polite/politer more common/commoner |
the most polite/the politest the most common/the commonest |
| With some two-syllable adjectives only an -er/-est ending is possible. |
narrow simple clever |
narrower simpler cleverer |
the narrowest the simplest the cleverest |
| Notable exceptions | ||
| good | better | the best |
| bad | worse | the worst |
| far | further / farther | the furthest / the farthest |
