Comparative adjectives: Older than, more important than, etc.

Comparative adjectives

We use more + adjective + than or adjective + -er + than to compare things or people.

• My car is more expensive than your car. 
• I am older than my brother. 

In this chart, you can see when we need to use more … than or -er than and the changes in spelling.

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Two things

We use the comparative form of an adjective to compare two things.

• Luke is taller than Mathew.
• This armchair is more comfortable than the sofa.

Less … than

When we compare two things, we can also use the form less + adjective + than (less ≠ more).

• Peter is less popular than Marta. (= Marta is more popular than Peter.)

Than me

If we use a personal pronoun after than, we need an object pronoun (me, you, him, etc.).

• My sister is taller than me.
• His sister is more intelligent than him.

Much/a bit + more

Before the comparative (more or –er), we can use much (=big difference) or a bit (=small difference).

• He’s a bit taller than me.
• Switzerland is much more expensive than Italy.

Common mistakes!

More or -er

We use more or –er, but we cannot use more + -er.

• My brother is more taller than me.
• My brother is taller than me.

More than (NOT that)

After a comparative adjective, we use than and NOT that.

• My brother is taller that me.
• My brother is taller than me.

Than + second element of the comparison

We use than + the second thing that we are comparing. When we don’t mention the second element of the comparison, we do NOT use than.

• I am tall, but my brother is taller than.
• I am tall, but my brother is taller.