Page 63 - IELTS Preparation Grammar and Vocab

Comparison 8

Grammar

Egg Adjectives and adverbs: comparative and superlative forms

START POINT
Accommodation would be cheaper in Athens.
It's probably the cheapest hotel in Athens.
I want to come home more relaxed and healthier / more healthy.
The walking tour in France was the healthiest / most healthy holiday I've had.
It will be more expensive to get to Corfu than Athens.
It's the most expensive flight that day.
There are exceptions to the comparative and superlative forms above.

We usually add -er/-est to one- However, we use more/most
syllable adjectives. before past participle adjectives (-ed or -ing adjectives):
I want to come home more relaxed.
before fun, real, right, wrong
It'd be more fun to go to Corfu.
We can usually add -er/-est or put However, we always use more/most with:
more/most before two-syllable participle adjectives:
adjectives. It was the most baring holiday I've ever had.
adjectives ending Jul or -less:
It would be more peaceful than being in a city.
afraid, alert, alike, alone, ashamed, cautious, complex, direct, exact
famous, frequent, modern, special, recent
I'm more afraid of flying than travelling by boat.
The Parthenon is one of the most famous buildings in the world.
We usually put more/most before However, we can add -er/-est to unhappy, unhealthy, unlikely,
three- or more syllable adjectives, unlucky, unsteady, untidy
I came back feeling unhealthier than when I went away. or ! came
back feeling more unhealthy ...

We can use a sentence with two comparatives to say that as one thing changes, another thing also changes:
The longer we leave it, the more expensive it's going to be.
as the opposite of more/most
We can use with all adjectives:
Hotels in Corfu are quite cheap — although less cheap than they used to be. It was the least expensive flight I
could find.
In informal contexts we usually prefer not as ... as rather than less than:
It's probably not as unspoilt as some of the other Greek islands.
The forms of comparative and superlative adverbs are similar to those of adjectives, although most adverb
comparatives and superlatives take more and most rather than -er/-est
We could live more cheaply in Athens. Most importantly, we need to book our flights soon.
Common adverbs which take -erl-at include hard and fast.

61