We often compare things when we are talking and the simple way of comparing in English is adding ER to small words like big – bigger / tall – taller / cheap – cheaper and adding more or less to the bigger words like less expensive / more beautiful / more interesting, or even using better than / the best / the worst, but there are some other ways we can compare things in English that help our English sound more advanced and to show our range of comparing things.

As as – we can use this construction when we think two things are at the same level. Imagine you’ve watched a film, and then there is a second part of this film and your friend asks you ‘Is it any good? – a phrase we use when asking about ratings” You can say “It is good. It is AS GOOD AS the first one” this way it shows they are on the same level. If you say NOT AS GOOD AS then it shows it is not on the same level, but it is worse. If you want to ask a question, then you simply ask ‘Is it as good as the first one? And remember if you think it’s on a higher level you simply say ‘It’s better’

BIGGER and BIGGER – We can use the construction of ER/MORE/LESS and ER/MORE/LESS to show that something is improving or worsening. Imagine you’ve got a small hole in your trousers and as the day goes on you notice it is bigger. You would probably say ‘I need to go home and change my trousers. I’ve got a hole in them and it’s getting BIGGER AND BIGGER” when we want to show improving and worsening with bigger adjectives, we can use the expression MORE and MORE or LESS and LESS expensive. You might say something like “I’m going to have to move cities because the rent is getting MORE and MORE expensive” or My teacher Luke gets MORE and MORE handsome each day”

By far the – We use this to show we think a person or thing is better than anything, but by a lot. Again, if we think about films, and there are 3 parts of a film, and you think part 2 is better by a long way, you can say ‘Part 2 is BY FAR THE BEST of the 3" or if you’re talking about food you could say "ATB IS BY FAR THE cheapest supermarket" Or even talking about your experience of travel “my trip to Germany was BY FAR THE MOST INTERESTING” and of course if you want to say something bad, you can simply say “It is BY FAR THE WORST experience I’ve ever had”

A bit / slightly / a little / much – Like the above we can add these words before our comparison to show the level, so if we think it is only ‘a little better’ we say exactly that. If we think the new supermarket is slightly more expensive than the new one, that’s exactly what we say to show the level is not so different, but we use much to show there is a big difference. For instance, “the supermarket is much more expensive” or "the dress you wore yesterday is much better than today’s"