Welcome to English Grammar Express.com

Welcome to English Grammar Express – a free site for English language students who want to improve their grammar.

You'll find a range of grammar resources including: grammar workshops and practice resources.
All lessons / resources come with printable PDFs.

A good place to start? Try the following featured workshops:

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

"The": Special Uses

Phrasal Verbs Part 1

You can also find some fun comprehension exercises on Stative Verbs and Question Forms; and useful sample conversations with a grammar focus: Party Conversation, Job Interview.

For general grammar practice, here are some recent exercises:

Grammar Mistakes: Rafael Nadal

Present Simple: Revision & Comprehension

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Comparatives & Superlatives

Grammar Summary:

Grammar lesson: How do we construct adjectives in the comparative and superlative in English? It depends – on the number of syllables and spelling.
There are also irregular forms you need to memorise. Below is a summary of the rules on this subject.

The explanation is divided into 4 parts. 1) Adding '-er than' and 'the -est'; 2) Adding '-ier than' and 'the -iest'; 3) Adding 'more ...-er than' and 'the most ...' and 4) Irregular forms.

1) Add ‘-er than’ & ‘the -est’:

a) Most one-syllable adjectives

i) Most one-syllable adjectives form comparatives and superlatives with: ‘-er than’ and ‘the -est’.

Examples:
tall / taller than / the tallest
old / older than / the oldest
long / longer than / the longest

ii) For one-syllable adjectives ending with ‘-e’, just add ‘-r’.

Examples:
nice / nicer than / the nicest
safe / safer than / the safest
large / larger than / the largest

iii) For one-syllable adjectives ending with vowel + consonant, add a double consonant.

Examples:
big / bigger than / the biggest
fat / fatter than / the fattest
thin / thinner than / the thinnest

b) Certain two-syllable adjectives

Some two-syllable adjectives also form comparatives and superlatives with: ‘-er than’ and ‘the -est’.

Examples:
simple / simpler than / the simplest
quiet / quieter than / the quietest
clever / cleverer than / the cleverest

Note these are adjectives with the emphasis on the first syllable. Note these two-syllable adjectives can also take ‘more... than’ & ‘the most...’. See 3) below.

2) Add ‘-ier than’ & ‘the -iest’:

Two-syllables, ending with ‘-y’

For two-syllable adjectives ending with ‘-y’ add: ‘-ier than’ and ‘the -iest’.

Happier than Examples:
happy / happier than / happiest
easy / easier than / easiest
friendly / friendlier than / friendliest

Note These two-syllable adjectives can also take ‘more... than’ & ‘the most...’. See below

3) Add ‘more... than’ & ‘the most...’:

a) Some two-syllable adjectives - optional

Adjectives in sections 1b) and 2) above can also take ‘more... than’ & ‘the most...’.

Examples:
more simple than / the most simple
more quiet than / the most quiet
more friendly than / the most friendly

b) Most other two-syllable adjectives

However, most other adjectives with 2 syllables, and in particular those ending with -ing, -ed, -ful and -less must take ‘more... than’ & ‘the most...’.

More careful Examples:
caring, more caring, the most caring
gifted, more gifted, the most gifted
careful, more careful, the most careful
useless, more useless, ... most useless

c) Three (or more)-syllable adjectives

For adjectives of three syllables or more add: ‘more... than’ and ‘the most...’.

Examples:
important / more important than / the most important
intelligent / more intelligent than / the most intelligent
beautiful / more beautiful than / the most beautiful

4) Irregular forms

The following adjectives are irregular. Learn them all by heart.

Examples:
good / better than / the best
bad / worse than / the worst
far / farther than / the farthest
little / less than, the least
many/much, more than, the most