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Irregular Adjectives in Comparative and Superlative Forms!

Irregular adjectives are commonly used in comparative and superlative. How many irregular adjectives are there in English? Let's explore the table of irregular adjectives together with PREP in the article below!

I. What are irregular adjectives?

Irregular adjectives are words that do not follow the rule of adding the suffixes "-er" or "-est" to form the comparative and superlative forms. Instead, these adjectives have different comparison forms or do not change. This makes learning and using irregular adjectives more difficult compared to regular adjectives. Below are some examples of irregular adjectives:

Adjective	Comparative form	Superlative form	Example
Good	Better	Best	She is a good singer. I think the second option is better than the first. This is the best movie I have ever seen.
Bad	Worse	Worst	It was a bad idea to go out without an umbrella. The situation is getting worse every day. That was the worst movie I have ever watched.
Far	Further/farther	Furthest/Farthest	The school is far from my house. If you walk further/farther down the road, you’ll find the store. The park is the furthest/farthest from our house.

Note: As in the above example of the irregular adjective "good", when making comparisons, we do not use "gooder" and "goodest", but rather use the comparative forms "better" and superlative form "best" instead.

II. The table of irregular adjectives in English

Below is the table of irregular adjectives, with a special focus on the grammar structures for comparative and superlative forms. Let's check out the irregular adjective list and PREP in the table below!

Adjective	Comparative form	Superlative form
Good	Better	Best
Bad	Worse	Worst
Many (for countable noun)	More	Most
Much (for uncountable noun)	More	Most
Little	Less	Least
Old (not new - people, objects)	Older	Oldest
Old (not young – family hierchy)	Elder	Eldest
Far	Farther/Further	Farthest/Furthest

III. The usage of irregular adjectives in English

The usage of irregular adjectives in English often differs from regular adjectives. Irregular adjectives are commonly used in comparative and superlative forms. Let's learn together how English irregular adjectives are used in comparative and superlative!

Irregular adjectives do not add the suffixes "-er" or "-est" to form the comparative and superlative forms. Instead, they have their unique comparative forms. For example:

good ➞ better ➞best
bad ➞ worse ➞ worst
far ➞ further/farther ➞ furthest/farthest

IV. Irregular adjectives that can be used with both -er/more and -est/most

In addition to irregular adjectives that change form in the comparative degree from the base form, some English irregular adjectives can take both -er/est forms and more/most forms in the comparative and superlative. Let's explore together with PREP which adjectives allow this flexibility!

Adjective	Comparative form	Superlative form
clever	cleverer/more clever	cleverest/most clever
gentle	gentler/more gentle	gentlest/most gentle
friendly	friendlier/more friendly	friendliest/most friendly
quiet	quieter/more quiet	quietest/most quiet
Simple	simpler/more simple	simplest/most simple
Common	commoner/more common	commonest/most common
Narrow	narrower/more narrow	narrowest/most narrow

V. Non-gradable adjectives in English

In English, adjectives fall into two primary categories: Gradable Adjectives (adjectives that have different degrees of comparison) and non-gradable Adjectives (adjectives without degrees of comparison). Non-gradable adjectives, unlike their gradable adjectives, remain a constant form regardless of context, and they do not employ comparative structures like more/less or superlative forms such as most/least. Let's explore together with PREP which adjectives are non-gradable!

Non-gradable adjective	Meaning
Blind	not able to see
Dead	no longer alive
Fatal	causing or ending in death
Final	being or happening at the end of a series of events, actions, statements, etc.
Left	on the side of your body that is towards the west when you are facing north
Right	on or towards the side of your body that is to the east when you are facing north
Unique	being the only existing one of its type or, more generally, unusual, or special in some way
Universal	existing everywhere or involving everyone
Vertical	standing or pointing straight up or at an angle of 90° to a horizontal surface or line
Horizontal	parallel to the ground or to the bottom or top edge of something
Wrong	not correct
Correct	in agreement with the true facts or with what is generally accepted

VI. Exercises on irregular adjectives in English

Exercise: Give the correct form of the adjectives below:

He did a (good)_______ job on the project.
He is getting (good)_______at playing the piano.
The cake tastes (good)_______when it’s fresh.
He had a (bad)_______ experience at the restaurant.
The traffic during rush hour is even (bad)_______than usual.
The (bad)_______part of the job is the long hours.
The hotel is not too (far)________ from the beach.
She ran (far)________ than anyone else in the race.
He traveled the (far)________ of all the contestants.
My grandpa is (old)_______ the person in my family.

Answer keys:

good
better
best
bad
worse
worst
far
further/farther
furthest/farthest
eldest

Irregular adjectives are important grammar items that students must learn and memorize their different variations. But it's not as difficult as it seems if you are truly determined to master them. You just need to study the theoretical knowledge provided by PREP combined with practice exercises - that way you will certainly be able to conquer irregular adjectives.

VI. Achieve Your Dream IELTS Band Score

If you still have any additional questions or doubts regarding the concepts discussed, feel free to join us at IELTS prep course below:

IELTS course: Break Barriers, Achieve Band 9

Master Tu Pham

Founder/CEO at Prep

Founder of Prep Smart Test Preparation Platform. With over 10 years of experience in teaching and test preparation, Mr. Tú has helped thousands of students achieve high scores in the IELTS exam. In addition, Mr. Tú Phạm is also a consulting expert in British Council programs and a speaker at many leading educational events, programs, and conferences.