Language and Grammar: Make Comparisons

Interview a Classmate Ask a classmate to describe characters that he or she thinks are scary. Switch roles. Compare your descriptions and ideas. Use adjectives that compare.

A troll is a scary character.

A goblin is scarier than a troll.

Writing and Grammar: Write to Compare Monsters

Study the Models When you write, use adjectives to make comparisons. Effective comparisons help your readers understand your thoughts and add details to your writing.

Not Ok

I think monster movies are the goodest movies of all. A monster movie is scary than a film without a monster. For example, on Saturday I watched the movie Swamp Thing, and then I watched a funny movie. Swamp Thing was most exciting than the other movie because of the creepy makeup and costumes.

The writer uses adjectives to compare but uses the wrong forms.

Ok

I think monster movies are the best movies of all. A monster movie is scarier than a film without a monster. For example, on Saturday I watched the movie Swamp Thing, and then I watched a funny movie. Swamp Thing was more exciting than the other movie because of the creepy makeup and costumes.

The writer uses adjectives correctly to make comparisons. The reader thinks: “Now I understand the writer’s thoughts.”

Revise It Work with a partner to revise this passage. Fix the comparisons.

I like the movie Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I think it is the greater Frankenstein film ever made. It is best than the 1931 movie Frankenstein. The monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is more smarter than the monster in the other film. I think the worse movie of all about the monster is The Ghost of Frankenstein.

Illustration of a pen icon WRITE ON YOUR OWN Choose two monsters or monster movies and compare them. Be sure to write comparisons with adjectives correctly.

    Remember

  • • Add -er or -est to most adjectives.

  • • If a word ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to i before you add -er or -est.

  • • Use more or most before long adjectives.

  • • Use special forms for good, bad, and many.