ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel TutoringHour Degrees of Comparison | Positive, Comparative, and Superlative Adjectives
Hey there! Let’s learn about something fun called “degrees of comparison” in adjectives. Imagine a spaceship zooming around in the sky. Inside, there’s an alien named Zorg who is exploring Earth. He sees three tall buildings. One is tall, the next one is taller, and the last one is the tallest. These words—tall, taller, and tallest—are examples of positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives.
The positive degree is the simplest form of an adjective. It describes something without comparing it to anything else. For example, “The building is tall.” We can also use it to say two things are the same, like “The building is as tall as the tower.”
When we want to compare two things, we use the comparative degree. We usually add “-er” to the adjective. For example, “This building is taller than that one.”
To compare more than two things, we use the superlative degree. We add “-est” to the adjective. For example, “This is the tallest building of all.”
Not all adjectives follow the same rules. Let’s look at some special cases:
If an adjective ends in -e, just add -r for the comparative and -st for the superlative. For example, “large” becomes “larger” and “largest.”
For adjectives like “big,” double the last consonant before adding -er or -est. So, “big” becomes “bigger” and “biggest.”
If an adjective ends in -y, change the -y to -i before adding -er or -est. For example, “happy” becomes “happier” and “happiest.”
For adjectives with two or more syllables, like “helpful,” we use “more” and “most” instead of adding -er or -est. So, “helpful” becomes “more helpful” and “most helpful.”
Some adjectives don’t follow the rules at all! For example, “good” becomes “better” and “best.”
Now that you know the rules, try using them in sentences. You can describe things around you using positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives. Have fun comparing!
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Adjective Hunt: Go on a scavenger hunt around your home or classroom. Find three objects and describe them using positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives. For example, if you find three pencils, you might say, “This pencil is long, that pencil is longer, and the other pencil is the longest.” Share your findings with a friend or family member and see if they can come up with different adjectives for the same objects!
Adjective Art: Draw a picture of three animals, like cats or dogs, and use adjectives to describe them. Write a sentence for each animal using positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives. For example, “The cat is fluffy, the other cat is fluffier, and the last cat is the fluffiest.” Display your artwork and sentences on a wall or fridge to show off your creative use of adjectives!
Story Time Challenge: Create a short story about an alien visiting Earth, like Zorg in the article. Use at least five sets of positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives to describe what the alien sees. For example, “Zorg saw a small tree, a smaller tree, and the smallest tree in the park.” Share your story with a classmate or family member and ask them to identify the adjectives you used.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
Hello and welcome to Tutoring Hour! In this video, we’ll learn to form the three degrees of comparison in adjectives. A spaceship was flitting around in the sky with a whirring sound. Staring through the glass dome was Zorg, an alien from another planet. He was exploring Earth. He saw three skyscrapers of different heights. One was tall, the other was taller, and the third was the tallest. The words tall, taller, and tallest are the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees of adjectives.
The positive degree of the adjective is used to describe the height of the skyscraper. Positive adjectives are also used to make equal comparisons. For instance, we can say, “The skyscraper was as tall as the tower.” But to compare the height of two skyscrapers, we need to use the comparative adjective. We can form comparative adjectives by adding the suffix -er. To compare more than two skyscrapers, we need to use the superlative degree. We can form superlative adjectives by adding the suffix -est. Thus, we can describe the three skyscrapers as tall, taller, and tallest.
Not all comparative and superlative adjectives are formed by adding -er and -est. When the adjective ends in -e, adding -r and -st will work fine. Zorg then compared three birds. The pelican was large, the crane was larger than the pelican, and the ostrich was the largest of the three. Zorg went on to compare a grizzly, a panda, and a raccoon. The raccoon was fat, the panda was fatter than the raccoon, and the grizzly was the fattest of the three.
We have our third rule here: When the base adjective is in a consonant-vowel-consonant format, we should double the consonant before adding the suffix -er or -est. So we have fat, fatter, fattest and big, bigger, biggest. Zorg flew across a park. He saw kids playing there. The kid on the slide was happy. The boy in the sandbox was happier. The girl climbing the monkey bars was the happiest.
From this, we have our next rule: When a two-syllable adjective ends in -y, as in “happy” or “easy,” change the -y to -i and add -er and -est to make the comparative and superlative adjectives. Now was that rule easy, easier, or the easiest to remember? Some two-syllable adjectives ending in -le, -ow, or -ertake -r or -er to form the comparatives and -st or -est to form superlatives, as in simple, simpler, and simplest; narrow, narrower, and narrowest; and clever, cleverer, and cleverest.
Zorg steered his spaceship and accidentally bumped into a tree, which damaged a part of the vehicle, bringing it to a halt. He started mending his spaceship. His drill gun was helpful. But his hand welder was more helpful than the drill gun. The maintenance jack was the most helpful. Did you notice the words more and most? We don’t normally use the -er and -est endings with two-syllable adjectives ending in -ful, -ing, or -ed. Instead, we use “more” and “most” to form comparative and superlative adjectives.
The last rule says, adjectives of three or more syllables form the comparative with “more/less” and the superlative with “most/least.” Zorg was hungry. His tractor beam attracted a few items from the mobile food truck parked at a distance. He took a bite of the sandwich. It was delicious. The burger, however, was more delicious than the sandwich. But the pizza was the most delicious of all things he had ever eaten. He wanted to rest. “A sleeping bag should be good,” he thought. “A rocking chair would be better,” he imagined. “A hammock would be the best,” he decided.
The irregular comparative and superlative adjectives good, better, and best have brought us to the end of our video. Zorg tied his hammock to the trees and rested a while. Just then, the alarm started ringing, and it was time to go. A push at the button elevated the spaceship. A tractor beam from the spaceship filled the place and drew Zorg toward it. And Zorg set off to his planet.
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