Comparatives

What a comparative does

An adjective describes a person or thing: a small room, a useful tool. Its comparative form shows a difference in that quality: a smaller room, a more useful tool.

• The upstairs room is brighter than the room below.
• This is a cheaper repair than replacing the whole door.

You can use a comparative after be, or before a noun. You can also use it after a verb such as feel, look or become. A noun phrase is a noun with the words that belong with it: a cheaper repair.

• I feel stronger after a few days of rest.

Than names the other person, thing or situation. Leave it out when the comparison is already clear. The room is brighter can mean brighter than before or brighter than another room you have just discussed. It does not mean brightest of all.

One-syllable adjectives and spelling

A syllable is a beat in a word: small has one, happy has two. For the ordinary comparison with a one-syllable adjective, add -er. Some adjectives have irregular forms instead.

A vowel is a sound such as the sound in hot; a consonant is a sound such as t. For spelling, check the ending as well as the sound. Hot becomes hotter, but new becomes newer. The usual short-vowel doubling pattern does not mean you double the last letter of every short adjective.

• The new shelf is lower than the old one.
• The soup is thicker now.

Do not add more to an -er comparative in this ordinary degree pattern: wider, not more wider. The special uses of more before a short adjective are explained below.

Two-syllable and longer adjectives

With a two-syllable adjective ending in a consonant plus y, change y to i and add -er: noisy becomes noisier, easy becomes easier.

• The side street is quieter than the main road.
• The new timetable makes our journey easier.

Most other two-syllable adjectives use more. With some, both forms are possible. British Council's either-form list includes common, cruel, gentle, handsome, likely, narrow, pleasant, polite, simple and stupid. Cambridge also gives clever and quiet. Check a learner's dictionary for a particular word rather than guessing from its last two letters.

Use more with the ordinary three-or-more-syllable adjectives in the last row. This is a main pattern, not a ban on every long word taking -er. Swan records unhappier and untidier as well as more unhappy and more untidy: these keep the pattern of happy and tidy despite the added un-.

• The second explanation is more helpful than the first.
• His desk looks untidier than it did yesterday.

There are also special uses of more with short adjectives. Swan allows more and more steep as well as steeper and steeper. When you compare two descriptions of one thing, use more: more sad than angry means sad is the better description. It is not a comparison of two people's sadness.

• I was more sad than angry when the visit was cancelled.

You may meet more before a short adjective in these special uses. For an ordinary speed comparison, faster is your straightforward form. See Compound adjectives for forms such as better-known and more well-known.

Irregular forms and age or distance

Some forms do not follow the regular endings. Learn the whole comparative.

• This year's harvest was better than last year's.
• The path goes farther along the river than I thought.

Farther and further both work for distance. Further also means additional before a noun, as in further details. Do not replace that with farther details in that meaning.

• Please contact the office for further information.

Use older in an age comparison with than: older than me. Elder can go before a noun for family birth order, as in my elder brother. It is not the form in my brother is elder than me. Older also works before the family noun.

• My elder sister lives nearby.
• This chair is older than the table.

Do not add more to better or worse for these ordinary degree comparisons: a better plan, not a more better plan.

Comparing actions: adverbs

An adverb can describe how an action happens: work carefully, move fast. To compare actions, choose the adverb's comparative, not an adjective merely because it is shorter.

• The replacement printer works more quietly than the old one.
• Can you arrive earlier tomorrow?
• I slept better after changing the pillow.

Fast and hard keep the same basic adjective and adverb form: a fast train, travel fast. Carefully has -ly and takes more carefully, not carefullier. Early is an -ly word with earlier, so do not turn the -ly pattern into a rule with no exceptions.

Do not double a comparative here either: faster, not more faster. See Adverbs: forms and irregular adverbs for adjective/adverb differences and accepted alternatives such as quick and quickly in their own patterns.

What can come after than?

Than can introduce a noun, a pronoun or a whole clause, a part with its own verb. Keep the two sides of the comparison clear.

• The repair cost more than the replacement part.
• The repair was more expensive than I had expected.
• Walking to the station is quicker than waiting for the bus.

You can leave out repeated words when the meaning is clear: than expected is a shorter form of than people expected. You can also use be, do or a modal verb instead of repeating the earlier verb.

• The parcel arrived earlier than expected.
• She types faster than I do.

Object pronouns such as me, him and us work after than: taller than me. With a subject pronoun such as I or he, include the verb for a clear full comparison: taller than I am, faster than he can. Cambridge presents the full subject-plus-verb pattern as more formal. Swan also records formal than I without the verb; do not mark it universally wrong.

• The top shelf is higher than I can reach.

A short comparison can have two readings. She visits the library more often than her brother could compare how often she and her brother visit, or how often she visits the library and visits her brother. Add the missing verb or repeat the phrase when the meaning matters.

• She visits the library more often than her brother does.
• She visits the library more often than she visits her brother.

Compare like with like. If you compare two prices, name both prices rather than making the second side sound like a different kind of thing.

• The price of this lamp is higher than the price of that one.

Less, equal comparisons and quantity

More useful gives a higher degree of usefulness. Less useful gives a lower degree. Use the ordinary adjective after less, not an -er form.

• The printed map is less detailed than the online one.

With short adjectives such as big or fast, Cambridge recommends not as... as rather than less: not as big, not as fast. This is a preference, not a claim that every less + short adjective is impossible.

• The small bag is as heavy as the large one.
• The new lift is not as fast as the old one.

As heavy as says the weights are equal, not that the bags are identical. Not as fast as says the new lift has a lower speed in this comparison. Keep the ordinary form: as heavy as, not as heavier as. You can also meet not so... as for the negative pattern.

The same uses as too, not than. You can add a noun: the same size as, the same colour as.

• My suitcase is the same size as yours.

For quantity, more can go directly before a noun: more space, more chairs. Less goes with an uncountable amount; fewer is the traditional choice with plural count nouns. Less with plural count nouns occurs in informal speech, so do not label every such use impossible. See Much, many and a lot of: few, a few, little and a little for the full quantity patterns and exceptions.

• The folded table takes less space.
• We now need fewer boxes.

A change that continues

Repeat a comparative with and to show a continuing change. With an -er form, repeat the whole word. With more, repeat more before the adjective. You are describing change, not naming a second thing with than.

• The gaps between the boards are getting wider and wider.
• Her instructions became more and more detailed.
• We had less and less time to finish.

Do not write more detailed and more detailed for this standard repeated-more pattern. Wider and wider means the width keeps increasing; it does not state a fixed size of gap. For the size of a difference, use the next page on modifiers.

Two things that change together

Use the... the... with comparative phrases to say that one thing changes or varies with another. The pattern can link increases, decreases, or one of each. It need not mean that both values increase.

• The longer we waited, the colder the room felt.
• The more carefully you pack, the fewer things break.
• The less time we waste, the sooner we can leave.

Put the comparative phrase before its subject: the colder the room gets, not the room colder gets. Both parts take the. Here the belongs to the linked-change pattern; it is not a reason to put the before every comparative.

You can shorten the pattern when the missing meaning is clear. The sooner, the better means an earlier time is better. This is different from a simple choice between two rooms: the brighter room uses the ordinary article with a noun.

• When should I send the form? The sooner, the better.

For choosing between just two things, the comparative is the traditional form: the larger of the two. Cambridge also records informal superlatives with two. See Superlatives rather than treating that variation as an error in this pattern.

What comes next

See Modifying comparatives for much, a little, even, any, no and exact differences such as three years older. See Superlatives for comparing one thing with a whole group, As and like for other similarity patterns, and Prefer, would prefer and would rather for preferences with rather than.