ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Sometimes, we can't help but compare ourselves to other people. [Girl stood next to height markings on a wall]

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Maybe we're comparing our unimpressive height to our skyscraper brother…

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…or our ability to spit out a ball of hair to our cat… [Cat on a girls bed]

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…though…you probably shouldn't be good at that one.

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But whether you're comparing yourself to your brother or your cat, there are a number of

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different ways to do it using the English language!

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The comparative form expresses a comparison between two things, and it's made in one of [Dino teaching comparative form]

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two ways…

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You can either add the suffix “-er” and the word "than," or you use the words “more”

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or “less.”

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Let's check out some examples! [Piano keys]

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Man, we check out so many examples in these videos…we should have some sort of jingle… [Coop singing]

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…Whoa.

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Anyway.

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First up is the “-er” suffix, which is added to one syllable words.

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For example, for the one syllable word “smart” we might say something like... [Girl walking in a park and falls over a rock]

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“She is smarter than that.”

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Any time we've got a one-syllable word, we use this “-er” plus “than” combo...

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Tall becomes taller than.

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Big becomes bigger than.

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Strong becomes stronger than.

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Cool becomes cooler than.

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And so on and so on.

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It's easier than you thought, eh?

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…See what we did?

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Naturally, then, when we have a word that is more than one syllable, we use “more” [Dino discussing more or less]

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or “less.”

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For example, let's say instead of the one-syllable word “smart” we wanted to say “intelligent.” [Girl reads an intelligence book]

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We wouldn't say “She is intelligenter than that.”

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That doesn't sound intelligent at all!

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Instead, we would say, “She is more intelligent than that.”

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Sounds much better, right?

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And that's the rule for any other word with more than one syllable. [Girl brushing her hair]

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More beautiful than, less argumentative than, more relaxed than... and so on and so forth.

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Okay, so we've figured out when and how to use either “-er” or “more or less.” [Coop teaching about comparing two things]

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But that's only for when we're comparing two things.

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What do we do when we want to compare MORE than two things? [A series of different sized pennies]

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In that case, whatever has the GREATEST degree of comparison

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is expressed as having the “superlative” of it.

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Which might sound complicated – but it's actually quite simple.

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A superlative is very often simply the word with the “-est” suffix at the end. [Coop singing]

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…That's still amazing.

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Anyway.

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“The watermelon is the biggest fruit on the table.” [Collection of fruit on a table]

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Big with the “-e-s-t” suffix becomes biggest.

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That's the superlative.

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And this works with most words...

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Healthiest.

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Strongest.

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Fastest.

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Kindest.

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Smartest.

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…Intelligentist?

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Oh, okay, fine, that one doesn't work.

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We'd simply say “most.” [Girl reads intelligence book in the library]

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As in, “the most intelligent.”

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And that's it!

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We either use “-e-r” plus than, or, “more” or “less” when comparing two things, and

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the superlative “-e-s-t” when comparing more than two things!

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…We don't have any more examples to give you, but uh…could we maybe…just take a

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peak at that jingle again? [Students sitting in a classroom and Coop performs jingle]

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Oh my gosh... magic.

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