Adjective plays the part to describe the quantity and quality of a noun or pronoun. There are different types of adjectives, and one of them is different adjectives. Adjectives have different forms to describe the nouns in a more precise manner.
The forms of adjectives used to make comparisons and define the superiority of a noun are called comparative and superlative adjectives respectively. Normally, there are two ways to make comparative and superlative adjective forms.
Examples of Irregular Adjectives
The first one is adding er/est, and the second one is using more/most. But there is a small number of adjectives that make comparative and superlative forms differently. Irregular adjectives use completely different nouns.
There is a possibility that some adjectives can be both regular and irregular with a slight change in the meaning. The only way to keep these irregular adjectives in mind is to learn them by heart.
| Irregular Adjective | Used with | Comparative | Superlative |
| Good | Better | Best | |
| Well | In terms of health | Better | Best |
| Bad | Worse | Worst | |
| ILL | In terms of health | Worse | Worst |
| Much | Uncountable nouns | More | Most |
| Many | Countable nouns | More | Most |
| Little | In terms of number | Less | Least |
| Old | People and things | Older | Oldest |
| Old | Family members | Elder | Eldest |
Sentences using Irregular Adjectives:
- I have less desire for cake than pastries.
- He has less affection for cricket than football.
- I have less time in hand to prepare for the test than last week.
- I have the least interest in football.
- Taj mahal is older than Qutub Minar.
- Archaeologists have come across the oldest remains of humans.
- Sham is my elder brother.
- Rajesh is the eldest member of his family.
- Her condition is better than yesterday.
- Last weekend was the worst time of this year.
- I have been blessed with the best parents.
- His marks are worse than last year.
- There is much time to start the preparation for tomorrow.
- Fruit cream cake is my most favorite dessert.
- There are more people at the event than last year.
- The flood was the worst one in history.
- Last year less plastic was dumped into the water bodies.
- Less rainfall takes place in plains than mountains.
- Many of the migratory birds have flocked towards the north.
As we have talked about earlier, there are some of the adjectives which behave as irregular as well as regular. The best example is the adjective ‘far.’ It is used in two situations as it is used to denote distance in terms of units as well as metaphorically.
Example of adjective which acts both as regular and irregular
| Positive | Used when | Comparative | Superlative |
| Far | Distance is expressed | Farther | Farthest |
| Far | Metaphorically | Further | Furthest |
Far is acting as both regular and irregular adjectives. When used to denote distance in terms of units, it acts as a regular verb. It acts as an irregular verb when it denotes distance metaphorically.
Sentences:
- I would like to delve further into this interesting story.
- The farthest I can reach in my imagination would never be equal to yours.
- She went further deep down the memory lane.
- Our house is farther than yours from this point.
- Our house is farthest among all the relatives from this restaurant.
Some exceptional adjectives do not have comparative or superlative forms. You can never make comparisons or define superiority or inferiority with the help of those adjectives. It can be said that they behave like absolute adjectives.
Examples:
- Blind
- Dead
- Fatal
- Final
- Left
- Right
- Unique
- Universal
- Vertical
- Wrong.
Sentences
- Her choice is unique from all of her friends.
- The incident could have been fatal.
- It is my final decision to settle permanently in Canada.