About this activity
Twelve adjectives turned into comparatives, split across the two rules: fast, tall, big, happy, small, loud and quiet take -er; careful, beautiful, colorful, interesting and difficult take more. English decides between them mostly by syllable count, and students who have only been taught -er produce more faster and beautifuler in roughly equal measure.
How to use it in a session
Sort before you produce. Put the short words in one pile and the long ones in another and let the pattern emerge, then state it — one syllable takes -er, three or more takes more, and two syllables depend on the ending. Happy and quiet are the interesting cases, since happy takes -er with a spelling change and quiet is genuinely variable. Ten minutes covers the set with the sorting step included.
What to listen for
Listen for double marking. More faster is extremely common and shows the student knows a comparative is needed and has applied both strategies at once. Watch the spelling changes on the -er group: big becomes bigger with a doubled consonant, and happy becomes happier with a y-to-i change, both of which are separate rules riding along with this one.
Carrying it home
Comparisons are everywhere at home and easy to ask for. Which is bigger, which one is more interesting, who is taller. Using the correct form back in the answer is enough of a model.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through fifth, where comparative forms are expected in both speech and writing.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, it plays free with no account.
- How do I explain which rule to use?
- Syllables are the usable shortcut: one syllable takes -er, three or more takes more. Two-syllable words vary, and the ones ending in -y usually take -er — happy becomes happier.