Irregular Comparatives and Superlatives: Good, Better, Best

ByNathan Cole

A small group of English adjectives forms its comparative and superlative from entirely different words. There is no rule behind them; they are survivals from older forms of the language, and they have to be memorised.

Fortunately the list is short, and it contains some of the most frequent adjectives in the language.

Positive Comparative Superlative
good better best
bad worse worst
far farther / further farthest / furthest
little less least
much / many more most
old older / elder oldest / eldest

The two that split by meaning

Farther and further. In careful usage farther covers physical distance and further covers everything abstract: three miles farther down the road, but no further questions and further evidence. British usage largely abandoned the distinction and uses further for both; American usage keeps it more often. Neither is wrong, but mixing them inside one document looks careless.

Older and elder. Elder survives only for people, usually family, and only before the noun: my elder sister. It cannot take than – you must write she is older than me, never elder than me. Everywhere else, older.

Good and well

Better and best serve as the comparative of both good (an adjective) and well (an adverb, and also an adjective meaning healthy). So a single sentence can be ambiguous: She plays better compares her playing; She feels better compares her health.

Common errors

Wrong Right
more better better
worser, baddest worse, worst
the most best the best
gooder better
elder than me older than me
furthest house on the street farthest in careful American usage; furthest is accepted in British

Baddest and worser do appear in dialect and in song lyrics, where they are deliberate. In ordinary writing they read as errors.

Practice

Correct the sentence, or write “correct”. Answers below.

  1. This result is gooder than the last one.
  2. My elder sister is elder than me.
  3. We walked three miles farther before resting.
  4. That was the baddest decision of the year.
  5. She needs no further explanation.

Answers

# Answer Why
1 better than good is irregular; there is no gooder
2 older than me elder cannot take than, though my elder sister is fine
3 correct physical distance takes farther in careful usage
4 worst bad is irregular
5 correct abstract, so further

Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.

Nathan Cole writes the adjective guides and word lists on Grammar Simplified. Every guide he publishes is checked against Merriam-Webster for spelling and usage, the Chicago Manual of Style for punctuation, and the AP Stylebook where a convention is specific to web writing. Where a rule is genuinely disputed among those authorities, he says so in the guide rather than picking a side quietly. Corrections are welcome and get acted on — see the editorial policy.

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