COMPARISONS

COMPARATIVES, SUPERLATIVES AND EQUATIVES

D EXERCISES
Read the information about the three women in the box below and do exercises I, II and III
using comparatives and superlatives as indicated.

Jean
30 years old
5 feet, 2 inches tall
105 pounds
very beautiful
very neat
friendly
very quiet

Donna
34 years old
5 feet, 4 inches tall
110 pounds
beautiful
neat
very friendly
quiet

Connie
27 years old
5 feet, 6 inches tall
125 pounds
not very beautiful
not very neat
friendly
not very quiet

I Compare Donna with Connie:

1. Donna is older than Connie.

(old)

2. __________________________________________________________________. (young)
3. __________________________________________________________________. (heavy)
4. ________________________________________________________________. (beautiful)
5. ____________________________________________________________________.(neat)

II Now compare the three women:

1. Jean is the quietest of the three women.

(quiet)

2. _____________________________________________________________________. (tall)
3. ___________________________________________________________________. (short)
4. _________________________________________________________________. (friendly)
5. ________________________________________________________________ . (beautiful)

III Finally complete the questions below according to the answers:

1. A: Which of the three women is the most beautiful?

(beautiful)

B: Jean.
2. A: Who ____________________________________________________________? (neat)
B: Jean is the neatest.
3. A: Is Connie __________________________________________________________? (tall)
B: Yes, she is.
4. A: Which ___________________________________________________________? (quiet)
B: Jean is.
5. A: Is Donna ________________________________________________________? (young)
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B: No, shes the oldest.

EQUATIVES
Comparatives of Equality
EXERCISE 1
COMPLETE THE SENTENCES USING AS ... AS AND THE ADJECTIVES IN THE BOX.
EXAMPLE:

Are you as old as Mike?

interesting

cheap

No, Im younger than he is.

old

clever

tall

1) Jill is almost __________________________ her father. Shes 164 cm and hes 166 cm.
2) Im not __________________________ my brother. Hes very intelligent.
3) The film wasnt __________________________ Id thought it would be. In fact, it was quite
boring.
4) Going by train is almost __________________________ taking the coach. They both cost
around 5.

EXERCISE 2
MAKE COMPARISONS USING ISNT AS ... AS AND THE ADJECTIVES IN PARENTHESES.
EXAMPLE:

Japan / India (large / industrialised)

Japan isnt as large as India.
India isnt as industrialised as Japan.

1) a giraffe / an elephant (tall / strong / fast)

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
2) iron / gold (strong / valuable)
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
3) a gorilla / a human (intelligent / strong)
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
4) a car / a bicycle (expensive / fast / easy to park)
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: In an informal style we use object pronouns like me, him after as. Example, You arent as
tired as me. In a more formal style we use a subject pronoun like I, he + verb. Example,
You arent as tired as I am. Some people think that the subject form + verb is more
correct.

COMPARATIVES, SUPERLATIVES AND EQUATIVES

EXERCISE 3
COMPLETE THE SENTENCES USING THE CORRECT FORM OF THE ADJECTIVES IN
PARENTHESES. ADD THAN, THE OR AS WHERE NECESSARY.
EXAMPLES:

A mile is longer than a kilometer (long)

Today isnt as sunny as yesterday. (sunny)
Whats the best holiday youve ever had? (good)

1) Baseball is one of _________________________ sport in the USA. (popular)

2) Shes much _________________________ her brother. (serious)
3) He wasnt as _________________________ he usually is. (friendly)
4) That was _________________________ film Ive ever seen. (good)
5) Hes much _________________________ any of his brothers. (generous)
6) You arent as _________________________ you think you are. (clever)
7) Wheres _________________________ place in the world? (hot)
8) Debbie is far _________________________ she used to be. (self-confident)
9) My brother is one of _________________________ people I know. (strange)
10) Which is _________________________ building in the world? (tall)
11) Our holiday was much _________________________ wed expected. (cheap)
12) That was one of _________________________ times of my life. (enjoyable)

COMPARISONS
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SUMMARY
ADJECTIVES

SHORT

One syllable

COMPARISONS OF ADJECTIVES
EQUATIVE
COMPARATIVE
taller than

as tall as

adjectives

noisier than

as noisy as

LONG

Two syllable
as famous as

ending in y
adjectives with
3 or more syllables

as artistic as

the noisiest

(not as noisy as)

ending in y
adjectives not

the tallest

(nor as tall as)

Two syllable
adjectives

SUPERLATIVE

more / less famous than

the most famous

(not as famous as)

the least famous

more / less artistic than

the most artistic

(not as artistic as)

the least artistic

better than
worse than
as good as
Irregular form of adjectives

farther / further than

as bad as
as far as

(not as good as)

(not as bad as)

the best
the worst
the farthest
the furthest

(not as far as)

NOTE 1: The following adjectives can use either form (-er / -est or more / the most):
able, angry, clever, cruel, friendly, gently, handsome, narrow, polite, obscure, secure,
simple, stupid.
Example:
as friendly as

friendlier than

The friendliest

more friendly than

The most friendly

NOTE 2: The comparative form of fun is more fun than.