ESL Lesson Plan: Comparatives and Superlatives

Targets: Comparative & Superlative Adjectives

Materials: white board & marker, practice worksheets (optionals)

Level: Advanced Beginner, children to adults

Presentation: Comparatives and Superlatives (25 minutes)

Draw two stick figures on the board, one being taller than the other. Label the first one as 5' 10" and the second as 6'. Give the two figures names, such as Adam for the first and Greg for the taller one. Write "tall" under Adam and "taller" under Greg. Say, "Greg is taller than Adam. He is six feet tall. Adam is five feet and ten inches tall. Adam is tall, but Greg is taller."

Write "comparative adjective" on the board. Explain that comparative adjectives compare two nouns and they are usually formed by adding "-er" to the base adjective. Tall → taller.

Then draw a third, slightly taller, stick figure. Name him "Bob" and write 6'3" near the figure. Say, "What do we do when we want to compare three people or things? We must use the superlative."

Write "superlative adjective: on the board. Then explain that we usually form the superlative by adding "-est" to the base form. Tall → tallest.

Write "tallest" under the stick figure of Bob. Say, "Adam is tall. Greg is taller than Adam. Bob is the tallest." Note that we use "the" in superlative sentences.

Next draw three stick figures of fat, fatter, and the fattest girl. Label each figure with names such as Cindy, Suzy, and Mandy. Avoid using names of students in the class. Say, "Cindy is fat. What is Suzy?"

Elicit "fatter" from the group. Then ask, "If Suzy is fatter than Cindy, what is Mandy?"

Elicit, "Mandy is the fattest girl!" from the group. Then write the sentence constructions on the board for all students to see.

Make a chart on the board with three columns: positive, comparative and superlative. Fill in the answers for "tall" and "fat" with the group. Then write the word "beautiful" as the third adjective. Say, "Beautifuller? Is that right?"

Likely one or two in the group will already know that this is grammatically incorrect. Let them correct you. If no one pipes up, explain that longer words like "beautiful" follow a different pattern. Write "more beautiful" and "most beautiful" in the chart. Write the following words in the positive column and ask students to fill in the chart: big, short, smart, handsome, old, young, pretty.

After students have given it a go, write the correct answers on the board. Make special note of any spelling changes (such as "y" to "i" in prettier) and the fact that handsome becomes "more handsome" and not "handsomer.

After completing the chart, go over the irregular forms of "good, better, best" and "bad, worse, worst."

Practice: Find the Mistakes (10 minutes)

Tell students that each of the following sentences has a mistake. They should cross out the mistake and make the sentence correct. You can print out worksheets ahead of time or write the sentences on the board.

1) Of the two sisters, Janet is the prettiest.

2) Shahrukh Khan is the most handsomest Indian actor.

3) The bus is more faster than the train.

4) Summer weather is worser than winter weather in Lahore.

5) Ahmed is the smarter of all the boys.

6) Aisha is more old than Sadaf.

7) Sarah is beautifuller than Melanie.

8) Bob is more tall than Joe.