<B>The British Council?s language clinic with ?Dr Danny?</B>

Hello and welcome to the English Language Clinic. Last week I focused on two forms of adjective, comparative and superlative. We looked at how these forms can be constructed in two main ways. The first involves adding ?-er? or ?-est? to the end of ?short? adjectives to form the comparative and superlative forms respectively. For example, the adjective ?small? becomes ?smaller? or ?smallest?. Imagine a litchi, a mango and a pineapple; the mango is ?smaller? than the pineapple, but the litchi is the ?smallest?. The second way of constructing these forms involves adding the words ?more? or ?less?, or ?most? or ?least? before ?long? adjectives; the mango is ?more delicious? than the litchi, but the pineapple is the ?most delicious?.

There is a third type of adjective, known as an ?irregular adjective?. The comparative and superlative forms of these adjectives do not follow either of the above ?rules? (remember, there are exceptions!). The most common ?irregular adjectives? are the words ?good? and ?bad?. The comparative forms are ?better? and ?worse? and the superlatives are ?best? and ?worst?. Other irregular adjectives and their comparative and superlative forms include ?little?, ?less?, ?least? and ?many?, ?more?, ?most?.

An irregular adjective which often creates confusion is ?far?. If you are using ?far? literally, to mean ?distance?, (as in the question ?how far is it to the shop??) there is a choice available. The comparative forms ?farther? or ?further? and the superlative forms ?farthest? and ?furthest? are all correct. If, however, you are using ?far? in a metaphorical sense, only ?further? and ?furthest? are correct. Examples of ?far? being used in a ?metaphorical sense? include expressions such as ?until further notice?, ?pending further review? and ?the furthest thing from the truth?; in each example there is no ?real? distance.

Please send your comments, queries and questions to ?Dr Danny? by emailing the following address [email protected]