Comparative

Adjectives and Adverbs can be comparative in English and some other languages. When people are talking about two or more nouns, they can compare them (say the differences between them). The word which explains how they compare is called the comparative. They can also compare actions using adverbs.

Examples: (The comparative is in bold).

John is tall, but Mark is taller
An hour is longer than a minute.

Many words can be made into a comparative by adding er to the end of the word.

cool - cooler
big - bigger
wet - wetter
dark - darker

Words that end with the letter 'Y' can still be made into a comparative, but people change the 'Y' to an 'I' and then add 'ER'.

happy - happier
fluffy - fluffier
angry - angrier
costly - costlier

Some words cannot be made into a comparative by adding 'ER' Instead we use the word more in front. Most of these words have three or more syllables, such as beautiful, reliable.

If people are not sure about a word, it is always acceptable to say "more" (something), such as "more beautiful", "more expensive".

Warning: The 'ER' ending and the word "more" together cannot be used.