Regular Comparatives and Superlatives Introduction Comparatives and Superlatives are special forms of adjectives.

They are used to compare two or more things. Generally, comparatives are formed using -er and superlatives are formed using -est. This page will explain the rules for forming regular comparatives and superlatives, and also show some basic ways of using them.

1. Forming regular comparatives and superlatives How these forms are created depends on how many syllables there are in the adjective. Syllables are like sound beats. For instance, sing contains one syllable, but singing contains two sing and ing. Here are the rules: Adjective form Only one syllable, ending in E. Examples: wide, fine, cute Only one syllable, with one vowel and one consonant at the end. Examples: hot, big, fat Only one syllable, with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end. Examples: light, neat, fast Two syllables, ending in Y. Examples: happy, silly, lonely Comparative Add -r: wider, finer, cuter Superlative Add -st: widest, finest, cutest Double the consonant, and add -est: hottest, biggest, fattest

Double the consonant, and add -er: hotter, bigger, fatter

Add -er: lighter, neater, faster

Add -est: lightest, neatest, fastest

Change y to i, then add -er: happier, sillier, lonelier Use more before the adjective: more modern, more interesting, more beautiful

Change y to i, then add -est: happiest, silliest, loneliest Use most before the adjective: most modern, most interesting, most beautiful

Two syllables or more, not ending in Y. Examples: modern, interesting, beautiful

2. How to use comparatives and superlatives Comparatives are used to compare two things. You can use sentences with than, or you can use a conjunction like but. Comparatives Jiro is taller than Yukio. Yukio is tall, but Jiro is taller. Superlatives are used to compare more than two things. Superlative sentences usually use the, because there is only one superlative. Superlatives Masami is the tallest in the class. Yukio is tall, and Jiro is taller, but Masami is the tallest. Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives 1. Forms of Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives Person 1st singular 2nd 3rd (female) 3rd (male) 3rd (neutral) 1st plural 3rd plural Pronoun mine yours hers his its ours theirs Adjective my your her his its our their

2. Using Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives A possessive pronoun is used instead of a noun: Julie's car is red. Mine is blue. A possessive adjective is usually used to describe a noun, and it comes before it, like other adjectives: My car is bigger than her car. Remember: There are no apostrophes in possessive pronouns and adjectives. The dog wagged its tail. It's is not a possessive pronoun or adjective it means it is: It's not my dog. Reflexive Pronouns Introduction A reflexive pronoun is a special kind of pronoun. It is usually used when the object of a sentence is the same as the subject, as you will see below. Each personal pronoun (such as I, you, and she) has its own reflexive form. This introduction will explain what the different forms of reflexive pronouns are, and when they are used. The forms of reflexive pronouns Personal Pronoun I you (singular) you (plural) he she Reflexive Pronoun myself yourself yourselves himself herself it we they Personal Pronoun Reflexive Pronoun itself ourselves themselves

When to use a reflexive pronoun Reflexive pronouns are used in three main situations: 1. When the subject and object are the same I hurt myself. The band call themselves Dire Straits. He shot himself.

2. As the object of a preposition, when the subject and the object are the same

I bought a present for myself. She did it by herself. (She did it alone.) That man is talking to himself.

3. When you want to emphasize the subject

I'll do it myself. (No one else will help me.) They ate all the food themselves. (No one else had any.) Impersonal It and There Introduction In many kinds of English sentences, you will find the word it or the word there in the subject position. These are usually impersonal sentences sentences where there is no natural subject. This introduction will help you to understand when to use it and when to use there. 1. Impersonal it When to use it Examples Its raining. Its cold. It was sunny yesterday. Who is it? Its me. What is it? Its a cat. What time is it? Its five oclock. What day is it? Its Thursday. How far is it to Toronto?

Talking about weather

Identifying something

Talking about time

Talking about distance

Its 4000 kilometers. 2. Impersonal there Impersonal there is used to say that something exists in a particular place: Singular Plural There is a book on the table. There are three men in the car.

Adverbs of Manner Introduction Adverbs describe the time when something happens, the place where something happens or how something happens. They tell us more about verbs. We can ask these questions: Question When? Where? How? Answer yesterday, today, now, later... here, there, everywhere, home, away, ... slowly, happily, well... Type adverbs of time adverbs of place adverbs of manner

Adverbs of Manner Let's work on adverbs of manner! Read this example: Tom drove carefully along the narrow road. How did Tom drive? Carefully! In what way did Tom drive? Carefully! Compare: Tom is a careful driver. Here, careful is an adjective and gives more information about what kind of driver Tom is. Adjectives usually follow the verb to be and come before a noun. How can we make adverbs? Usually, we make adverbs by adding ly to the end of an adjective. Examples: nice clear nicely clearly

Sometimes, we must change the y at the end of the adjective and add ily to make the adverb. Examples: heavy heavily lazy lazily Be careful! Some adjectives end in ly and are NOT adverbs. Examples: She is a lovely woman. They are very friendly, aren't they? Now we know how to use adverbs of manner to describe more about the way we do things. Let's look at three more examples. Can you find the adverbs? My mother sings beautifully, but my father sings very badly. When I was a child, I couldn't swim very quickly, but now I can! They don't like the teacher because she speaks so loudly. Be careful! There are some very common exceptions!! Good is an adjective. Your pronunciation is very good. Well is an adverb. You speak very well. He can't play tennis well. The words fast, late, and hard are adjectives and adverbs. Adjective Mary was a fast runner in high school. The bus was late. John is a hard worker. Adverb Mary could run very fast. The bus arrived late today. John works hard every day. (not fastly) (not lately*) (not hardly**)

*Lately is an adverb, but it means recently. I have been feeling tired lately. **Hardly is an adverb, but it means almost not at all. She hardly ate anything today. Now, we need to know how to compare how things are done. You can follow the same rules that we use with adjectives! Example:

Ann speaks French fluently. Jack can't speak French fluently. Ann speaks French more fluently than Jack, OR Jack speaks French less fluently than Ann, OR Jack doesn't speak French as fluently as Ann. Ann speaks French the most fluently in the whole office. This is the superlative. It compares three or more people/things. Example: Bob studies seriously. Dan doesn't study seriously. Bob studies more seriously than Dan, or... Dan studies less seriously than Bob, or... Dan doesn't study as seriously as Bob. Bob studies the most seriously of all the students in his class. Do you remember those exceptions above? (fast/late/hard/well) Let's see how to compare ideas with these! Examples: Margaret runs faster than me, but Bob runs the fastest on our team. Joe arrives home later than his children. His wife arrives home the latest in the family. Sally works much harder than her sister in the family business, but her brother works the hardest. My mother sings better than my father. In fact, my mother sings the best in our whole family!

Introduction Although most nouns have plurals formed according to regular rules (see Regular Plurals of Nouns), some nouns have unusual, or irregular plurals. This page will introduce the most common ones, so that you can learn them. Types of irregular plural There are many types of irregular plural, but these are the most common:

Noun type

Forming the plural Change f to v then Add -s Change f to v then Add -es

Example knife knives life lives wife wives half wolf loaf halves wolves loaves potatoes tomatoes volcanoes

Ends with -fe

Ends with -f

Ends with -o

Add -es

potato tomato volcano

ends with -us

Change -us to -i

cactus cacti nucleus nuclei focus foci analysis analyses crisis crises thesis theses phenomenon phenomena criterion criteria man men foot feet child children person people tooth teeth mouse mice sheep deer fish (sometimes)

ends with -is

Change -is to -es

ends with -on

Change -on to -a

ALL KINDS

Change the vowel or Change the word or Add a different ending

Unchanging

Singular and plural are the same

Introduction Most nouns in English have both singular and plural forms, and the plural is usually formed by adding "-s" to the singular. Most nouns in English have both singular and plural forms, and the plural is usually formed by adding -s to the singular. This page explains the basic ways of forming regular plurals in English. For information about forming irregular plurals see Irrgular Plurals of Nouns. How to form the plural Noun ending s, x, ch or sh Forming the plural Add -es boss tax Example bosses taxes

bush baby candy curry cat face day

bushes babies candies curries cats faces days

consonant + y

Change y to i then add -es

most others

Add -s

Count and Non-Count Nouns Introduction In English, there are two kinds of nouns: count nouns and non-count nouns. It is important to understand the difference between them, because they often use different articles, and non-count nouns usually have no plural. Here is a summary of the differences: Type of noun Explanation Example There are two books on the table. There is an elephant in my car. Could I have some water please? I'd like rice with my steak.

Count nouns

Count nouns are things which can be counted. That means that there can be more than one of them. Also, when a count noun is singular and indefinite, the article a/an is often used with it. (The real meaning of a is one.)

Non-count nouns

Non-count nouns (or uncounted nouns) are usually things which cannot be counted, such as rice or water. Non-count nouns have a singular form, but when they are indefinite, we either use the word some or nothing at all instead of an article.

How to tell whether a noun is count or non-count You can usually work out whether a noun is count or non-count by thinking about it. Count nouns are usually objects which can be counted. Non-count nouns are often substances (such as sand, water or rice) which cannot be easily counted, or they may be large abstract ideas such as nature, space or entertainment. Here are some more examples: Count nouns pen table car idea answer class Non-count nouns education intelligence clothing soap air cheese

exam shoe

grass literature

Introduction Although non-count nouns are supposed to be uncountable, we sometimes need to count them. At least, we sometimes need to explain the quantity of something which is non-count. We can do this by using a measurement word, or counter, like this:

a bar of chocolate

two loaves of bread

three slices of meat

It's useful to learn some of the most common measurement words and how they are used. Here are some examples: Measurement word bar Nouns used with it chocolate soap sugar ice tennis soccer cards wine beer water juice advice information baggage clothing furniture homework machinery

cube

game

glass

piece