Pictured above: Sea Dragons from San Diego's Birch Aquarium. Can you complete this sentence correctly?
"Sea dragons are more _____________ than sea horses."
It is time again for the Grammar Lesson of the Month! For the fall, CISL will focus on Comparatives and Superlatives. We begin October with Part 1 of these lessons: Comparatives.
Comparatives are the words we use to compare two things.
- I am older than my sister.
- I am not older than my brother.
Notice that with all of the adjectives, we use the word “than.”
We also change the adjective, depending on how many syllables the adjective has.
One syllable adjectives: add “-er” to the end.
- I am taller than Amy.
- No one is smarter than you.
- Air is lighter than water.
- San Diego is warmer than San Francisco.
- Is surfing harder than skateboarding?
Two syllable adjectives ending in “-y”: change the “-y” to “-ier”
- Rich people are not always happier than poor people.
- I am healthier than I was in the past.
- You are prettier than anyone!
- This dress is classier than the other one.
- This is spicier than usual.
Two syllable adjectives: do not change the adjective, and add the word “more”
- She is more beautiful than anyone in the world.
- These two shirts are more alike than these other two.
Three syllable (or more) adjectives: use the same rule as above
- Today’s quiz was more difficult than the one we had last week.
- You are more generous than anyone I know.
- She is more hard-working than anyone else in our company.
Several months ago, the CISL Blog looked at comparing “as . . . as” expressions. This is another way to compare two things. Click here to learn about how to compare two things using “as . . . as” expressions, and check back next month for a lesson on comparing three or more things, when we look at Superlatives. Have a beautiful October!