Adjective Subcategories

Adjectives are divided into short adjectives and long adjectives according to how many syllables they have.  Short adjectives have one or two syllables and use –er and -est.  Long adjectives have two or more syllables and use more and most.  The tricky thing is if an adjective has exactly two syllables.  Does it need –er or –est?  See which you prefer for the following two syllable adjectives.

Activity 10.4: Subcategories of Adjectives 2

Drag each adjective below the correct label.

Two syllable adjectives that end in –y and –ow usually use –er and –est, but two syllable adjectives that have other types of endings usually use more and most. Funny seems to be flexible, taking either form.

Activity 10.5: Subcategories of Adjectives 3

Two syllable adjectives that end in –y usually use –er and –est, but two syllable adjectives that have other types of endings usually use more and most.

Drag each word to the appropriate column for the correct grammatical form.

The adjectives good and bad in English don’t follow the general rules we have just seen.  They have their own special comparative and superlative forms.  For this reason, they are often described as exceptions.  The comparative of good is better, and the superlative is best.  The comparative of bad is worse, and the superlative is worst.  Since these forms aren’t based on the root adjective at all, they are called suppletive forms: special forms that step in as completely different substitute forms.

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