What is a superlative adjective? There are two types of adjectives that are used when comparing two or more nouns These are comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives. Adjectives, comparative adjectives, and superlative adjectives will be explained and examples given.
The job of an adjective is to give more information about a noun. A noun is a person, object, animal, or idea. An adjective will describe the noun by giving its size, composition, color, age, shape, weight, etc. Adjectives can be a single word or a group of words and can also be used with a verb, like “is” or “was.” Most adjectives come before the noun they modify.
Examples of adjectives before nouns include: “I saw a really big dog.” or “That crazy cat is running around in circles.” Examples of adjectives used with verbs are: “My friend is adorable.” and “That house is huge.” Understanding the function of an adjective helps to answer the question, “What is a superlative adjective?”
A comparative adjective is used when comparing two nouns. One noun will be better, bigger, or will have more of something than the other. Examples include: “The red dress is more expensive than the blue one.” and “Your car is faster than mine.” When using the word “than” it will come after the comparative adjective, like: “Autumn is colder than summer.”
The rules for making adjectives into comparative adjectives depend on the number of syllables and the spelling of the word. They are as follows:
One syllable - add “er”, like warm to warmer, high to higher. Sometimes the final consonant must be doubled like fat to fatter.
A superlative adjective compares three or more nouns. This takes the comparison of nouns to the highest degree. An example would be: “My mother’s cooking is the best.” The rules for making superlative adjectives are almost identical to the rules for making comparative adjectives. They are:
The best way to answer the question, “What is a superlative adjective?” is to show examples that compare regular adjectives, comparative adjectives, and superlative adjectives. Following is a list of adjectives with their comparative and superlative forms:
Here are several sentences using these adjectives in their superlative form: