9A: Compare Clothes

Compare Clothes

Vocabulary

Grammar: Comparatives

We use comparative adjectives to compare two things or show change. The comparative form depends on the number of syllables in the adjective.

Adjectives with one syllable

To make comparative forms with one-syllable adjectives, we usually add -er:

old → older
clean → cleaner
slow → slower

If an adjective ends in -e, we add -r:

safe → safer
nice → nicer

If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we usually double the consonant:

big → bigger
hot → hotter

Adjectives with two or more syllables

If a two-syllable adjective ends in a consonant and -y, we change -y to -i and add -er:

noisy → noisier
happy → happier
easy → easier

We use more to make comparative forms for most other two-syllable adjectives and for all adjectives with three or more syllables:

crowded → more crowded
stressful → more stressful
dangerous → more dangerous

Exception: You can either add -er/-r or use more with some two-syllable adjectives, such as common, cruel, gentle, handsome, likely, narrow, pleasant, polite, simple and stupid.

I think life in the countryside is simpler than in the city.
It's more simple to live in the city because everything you need is there.

Irregular adjectives

The adjectives good, bad and far have irregular comparative forms:

good → better
bad → worse
far → further/farther

Than

When we want to say which person or thing we are comparing with, we can use than:

Their house is cleaner than ours.
Traffic is slower in the city than in the countryside.
After the race I was more tired than Anne.

Goal check

• You and your partner are wearing today:

  • My shirt is brighter than yours.
  • Your shoes are more comfortable than mine.

• Your mother or father usually wears with what you usually wear:

  • My mom's dresses are more formal than what I usually wear.
  • My dad’s clothes are less colorful than mine.

• You are wearing today and the clothes you wore yesterday:

  • The sweater I’m wearing today is warmer than the jacket I wore yesterday.
  • My outfit today is more casual than what I wore yesterday.

• You wear for school or work and the clothes you wear on weekends:

  • The clothes I wear to school are neater than my weekend outfits.
  • My weekend clothes are more relaxed than what I wear to work.