LANGUAGE FOCUS – BASIC LEVEL – UNIT 4

The ugliest dog The oldest person

The tallest

man and

the shortest

man

Superlatives
SHORT WORDS (1/2 SYLLABLES)

the -est

old → the oldest nice → the nicest cheap → the cheapest

slow → the slowest late → the latest short → the shortest

Pay attention to the spelling:

big → the biggest hot → the hottest thin → the thinnest

Words ending in -y → the -iest

easy → the easiest heavy → the heaviest early → the earliest

 LONG WORDS (2/3/4 SYLLABLES)

The most …

careful → the most careful beautiful → the most beautiful

interesting → the most interesting expensive → the most expensive

With many two-syllable adjectives, we use the most:

the most modern, the most famous, the most correct

With some two-syllable adjectives, we use either the -est or the most…:
the quietest/the most quiet, the simplest/the most simple, the cleverest/the most clever

IRREGULAR

good/well → the best bad → the worst

little → the least far → the furthest/farthest
much/a lot → the most

Exercise 1

Complete these sentences. Use the superlative form of the adjective in brackets.

1) The ________ (good) gifts are often surprises.

2) It was ______________ (happy) day of my life!
3) December is ______________ (cold) month of the year in my country.
4) She bought _____________ (big) cake in the shop.
5) We stayed at ______________ (cheap) hotel in the city.
6) Who is _______________ (popular) singer in Chile?

Exercise 2

Write sentences about the animals using comparatives and superlatives.

1) fast: mouse / cheetah / cat

The cat is faster than the mouse but the cheetah is the fastest.
2) intelligent: dolphin / dog / chimpanzee
____________________________________________________
3) short: giraffe / horse / penguin
____________________________________________________
4) heavy: hippo / elephant / whale
____________________________________________________
5) dangerous: shark / mosquito / rabbit
____________________________________________________
6) active: koala / cat / dog
____________________________________________________
Exercise 3

Complete these song lyrics, using the superlative form.

1) I have climbed ______________ (high) mountains, I have run through the fields, only to be
with you.
– U2
2) Could you be ________________ (beautiful) girl in the world?
– Prince
3) It´s _______________ (hard) thing I’ll ever have to do, to look you in the eye and tell you I
don’t love you.
– 98 Degrees
4) Because _______________ (great) love of all is happening to me.
– Whitney Houston
5) It’s _______________________(wonderful) time of the year.
– Andy Williams
6) I’m losing you…. ain’t love ______________ (sweet) thing.
– U2
7) What else could I do? I’m so inspired by you; that hasn’t happened for _________ (long)
time.
– Billy Joel
8) I wanted you bad, I’m so through with that, ‘cause honestly you turned out to be
__________ (good) thing I never had.
– Beyoncé
9) You’re simply ______________(good)!
– Tina Turner

Links for extra practice

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/adjectives/comparative-and-
superlative-adjectives

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/practice-comparatives