Comparative Forms: Bigger, Better and More Powerful

Comparative Forms: Bigger, Better and More Powerful

Which is faster: a train or a bus? Is city life more exciting than country life? Comparative forms help us describe differences between people, places, objects and ideas. Learn the main patterns below, then test yourself with a little history about the Celtic queen Boudicca and her war with the Romans. 

Comparative forms: a quick review

For most short adjectives, add -er + than:

• strong → stronger than
• large → larger than

Watch the spelling:

• big → bigger
• heavy → heavier

With longer adjectives, use more + adjective + than:

• more organised than
• more successful than

Some comparative forms are irregular:

• good → better
• bad → worse
• far → farther/further

To compare quantities, use:

• more/fewer with countable nouns: more soldiers, fewer weapons
• more/less with uncountable nouns: more armour, less protection

You can make a difference sound greater with much, far or a lot:

• Boudicca’s army was much bigger than the Roman army.

Use slightly or a little for a smaller difference:

• One army was slightly smaller than the other.

To show that two things are or are not equal, use (not) as … as:

• The Britons were not as well protected as the Romans.

Ready to practise? Complete the gap-fill about the famous Celtic queen Boudicca, who fought the Roman occupiers of her homeland, then make your own sentences with comparative forms in the second activity.