Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seoulio]

I have hit a brick wall with internet searching, it keeps giving me the same list of 6 which is ridiculous.

Okay so most ajdjectives can be midified to compare simply by adding "er" or"est" to them ( he is the smarter of the two brothers, she is the smartest in the class)

There are fo course a number of them that DO NOT work this way ( little, bad, good, much)

those are the ones that the internet gave me, but of course I can think of a couple others like "important"

So can you guys help me with my lesson plan, what are some more adjectives that you need to use "more_______" as opposed to "er" or "est" at the end?

[crisdean]

dangerous
experienced
learned
practical
knowedgable
adaptable
creative
beautiful
cheerful


that's all that springs to mind in the 2 seconds I've thought about it, but I'm sure there are hundreds, if not thousands.

[alistaircandlin]

I think it tends to be longer words, or less common words that use more and most for the comparatives and superlatives.

I thought of:

Succinct
Resourceful
Quantifiable
Embarrassed
Dangerous
Interesting
Gullible
Expensive
Excellent
Common
Fortunate
Surprising
Peaceful
Perfect
Modern
Famous
Complete
Beautiful

These seem like latinate adjectives to me. But that can't be a role because you also have words like 'bored,' and 'stupid,' which sound to me like anglo-saxon. (Sorry I can't check the etymology at the moment - I'm just guessing.) It would seem though, that English, quirky as ever, does not have any rules regarding when to use more and most for the comparatives and superlatives.

I've done a quick search but have not been able to find a definitive list either. Will let you know if I do. You might try googling 'comparative superlative more most,' though, and look through the links.

Ok - hold on - I've just found this site:

http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=144846

Which has some rules:

(iv) two syllable adjectives ending in -ed, -ing, -ful, or -less always form the comparative with more and the superlative with most, e.g.:

Adjective
Comparative
Superlative
worried
more worried the most worried
boring more boring the most boring
careful
more careful the most careful
useless more useless the most useless

As a general rule, most other two syllable adjectives also form comparatives and superlatives with more and most, apart from those ending in -y (see (iii) above). However a few two-syllable adjectives can take either -er/-est or more/most. Here are five of the most common examples:

Adjective
Comparative
Superlative
common
commoner/more common the commonest/most common
narrow narrower/more narrow
the narrowest/most narrow
pleasant
pleasanter/more pleasant the pleasantest/most pleasant
useless more useless the most useless
simple
simpler/more simple the simplest/most simple
quiet quieter/more quiet the quietest/most quiet
(v) Adjectives which have three or more syllables always form the comparative and superlative with more and most, e.g.:


etc

[edwardcatflap]

Wasn't there some tv series about a homeless dog ages ago called
'the littlest hobo'?

Anyway if this is for teaching purposes my advice is keep it simple. Most books teach comparative and superlative adjectives at elementary/pre-intermediate level and divide them into four categories

one syllable (add 'er' and 'est')
two syllables or more (add 'more' or 'most')
one or two syllables ending in 'y' (add 'ier' and 'iest')
irregular (bad, good, far)

There's no need to compile huge lists which can take two forms unless the students are very advanced

Avoid adverbs like 'much'

They also teach the spelling at this level - double consonants if preceeded by one consonant and one vowel.

big - bigger - thin - thinner etc....