Comparative Adjectives

Comparative adjectives are used to compare two (and only two) things.  

They are used with the word THAN. 

STRUCTURE

 Comparative adjectives use ER or MORE.

ER 

Subject   +  BE  +  Adjective   +  ER  +  Than

Examples:

• The car is bigger than the bicycle.
  
• My brother is older than me.
  

MORE 

Subject   +  BE  +  More  +  Adjective   +  Than

Examples:    

• The dress is more expensive than the pants.
  
• Her painting is more beautiful than my painting.
  

How do you know when to add ER or when to use MORE?
Simply follow this rule:  

Base Adjective	Add...	Example:
2 Syllables or less	ER	Tall	Taller
3 Syllables or more	MORE	Beautiful	More Beautiful

Here are some example sentences with comparative adjectives:

• The boy is taller than his sister.
  
• My house is smaller than your house.
  
• The book is more interesting than the movie.
  
• The shoes are more expensive than the boots.
  

Irregular Comparative Adjectives

Some adjectives do not follow the same structure.  These are called irregular comparative adjectives.   

Adjective	Comparative
Good	Better
Bad	Worse

Examples:

• The chocolate ice cream is better than the vanilla ice cream.
  
• The green shoes are worse than the blue shoes.