Comparative adjectives

Most of us know how the comparative adjectives work.  When there is no comparison, we use the 'base form' of the adjective.  For example: Richie is rich.  There is no comparison.  One person.

When we want to say that two people have the same quality of a thing, we can use 'as ... as'.   For example:  Mary is as tall as June.  The car is as fast as the motorcycle.

Enter a better quality.  We will us the 'er' form or with the word 'more'.  In both cases, we add 'than'.  We use 'than' when we 'compare'.  Do not mix up with 'then'.  'The Harley is faster than the Honda.'  (Is it true?  Not sure!)  'My father is more handsome than that ugly man.'

In the case of three or more people, we use the 'est' form or with the word 'most'.  This time, we do not use 'than', but we insert 'the' in front of the comparison.  For example: Mickey is the smartest of the cartoon characters in 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'.  Micky is tall.  Donald is taller.  Goofy is the tallest of them all.  Simple stuff.

The complication comes when there are some irregular words that do not follow the guidelines I have listed above.  For example: good-better-best; bad-worse-worst; much-more-most; little-less-least.

Another complication is comparing an individual and a group.  When comparing a boy and a group of boys, we are actually comparing two entities.  For example:  Ali is shorter than most of the boys in the class (one group).  Timmy is older than the animals in the class (one group).  We are comparing two things in both examples, hence, we use 'er' and 'than'.

Also, do not be fooled by the use of the word 'the'.  It is NOT ALWAYS an indicator to use the 'est' form!  It merely points to things, sometimes.  For example:  Donald is the noisier of the two characters.  The red pen is the cheaper of the pens I have.  (implies that I have only two pens)

Last but not least, a common mistake made by students is to 'double use' the 'er' form with 'more'.  Some tend to say: 'I am more taller than Frank.'  'Taller' has already been added with 'er', so there is no need for 'more' to be added.  It is weird to hear 'more tall' too!