LE TUTORAT de Chrissylia Mauraille/ Anglais : Les comparatives et les superlatives in english.

Bonjour chers lecteurs. Mon vœu pour vous en ce jour est le bonheur total. Je tiens avant tout à vous présenter mes excuses pour mon silence et mon absence. Comme on a l’habitude de le dire Dieu seul a le contrôle de tout, nul ne peut tout savoir ni tout prévoir. Par contre nous pouvons décider de continuer le combat que nous avons entamé. À ce titre chers lecteurs, je suis de retour avec de nouvelles surprises qui vont vous booster d’avantage dans l’apprentissage de la langue anglaise. Pour ce jour, je voudrais vous présenter les comparatives et les superlatives in english.

One of the most common things we do in our everyday language is to compare things. It might be comparing restaurants, candidates for a job position, or films to see at the cinema. So how do we make comparatives and superlatives in English ? Read on to find out all the information you need about comparing.

What are comparatives and superlatives ?

We use comparatives and superlatives to say how people or things are different. We use a comparative adjective to express how two people or things are different, and we use a superlative adjective to show how one person or thing is different to all the others of its kind. For example,

Mick is taller than Jack.

Mick is the tallest person in the family.

Now let’s focus on the details of how to create each of these adjectives.

Comparatives.

Comparative adjectives enable us to express the difference between two people or things. In order to say that someone or something has a superior quality, size, or characteristic, you need to use ‘more’. Instead, when you want to say that someone or something has an inferior quality, size, or characteristic, you must use ‘less’.

More.

The way we make a comparative with ‘more’ depends on the length of the word. There are three different cases:

1) More for long adjectives.

If an adjective has two or more syllables, we add the word ‘more’ in front to create the comparative form. For example :

This hotel is more expensive than the last hotel we stayed at.

Reading is more interesting than watching television.

The sea here is more beautiful than the sea in my country.

2) -er for short adjectives

If an adjective has one syllable, or two syllables with -y as the second syllable, we add -er to create the comparative. For example :

Your house is bigger than mine.

Taking the bus is cheaper than taking the car.

This box is heavier than that one.

As you can see in the first example, if an adjective ends in a vowel and consonant (e.g. big) you need to double the final consonant. For example, bigger, fatter, thinner.

3) Irregular comparatives.

As is often the case in English, there are some adjectives that are irregular and don’t follow these rules. Here are the irregular comparatives:

good – better

bad – worse

far – further (U.K. English) farther (US English)

fun – fun

For example,

Your cooking is better than my cooking.

Arriving late is worse than arriving early.

Their house is further from here than our house.

Going out is more fun than staying at home.

A vous d’essayer de traduire la leçon avec votre dictionnaire bilingue pour une meilleure compréhension.

A mardi prochain…

Chrissylia Mauraille NTCHANGO