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:

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!

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!

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!

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 

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