Grammar
Academic Task 1 is almost entirely comparison, so these forms are unavoidable. With an error correction exercise.
Comparatives and superlatives in IELTS are unavoidable, because Academic Task 1 asks you to select the significant features of a chart and compare them. These forms appear in almost every sentence, so getting them wrong is not an occasional slip but a repeated one.
The forms themselves are learned early. What causes errors at Band 6 is doubling them, comparing things that cannot be compared, and having no way to say how big the difference is.
The rules
Six points: the forms, the irregulars, and the traps.
High, higher, the highest. Large, larger, the largest. Two-syllable adjectives ending in y follow the same pattern: easy, easier, the easiest.
Expensive, more expensive, the most expensive. Significant, more significant, the most significant. Never combine the two systems.
Good, better, the best. Bad, worse, the worst. Far, further, the furthest. Little, less, the least. Many and much, more, the most. There are few of them and they appear constantly.
More higher and the most highest are the two errors examiners see most in Task 1. An adjective takes one comparative form or the other, never both at once.
Slightly higher, considerably lower, far more common, twice as many as, marginally above. Without these, every comparison in the chart sounds the same size.
The figure for Japan was higher than that for Spain, not higher than Spain. A figure cannot be compared with a country, and this error runs through a great many Task 1 answers.
Method
Six ways this earns marks under Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
A was higher than B, B was not as high as A, A was twice as high as B. Three ways to say one thing, which is range at no extra risk.
The highest and lowest points are the significant features the task asks you to select, so name them explicitly rather than describing every value.
The difference between slightly and considerably is information, and information is what Task Achievement rewards.
They are different words. Higher than is comparison; then is time. The mistake is common and it is entirely visible on the page.
It is the standard way to compare figures without repeating the noun, and it is the fix for the most frequent comparison error in the task.
The second largest, the third most common. This lets you rank several items without writing a separate sentence for each.
Practice
Each sentence contains one error. Choose the correction.
Read the whole sentence before you choose. Every option below is a real form of English, so the question is not which word exists but which one this sentence needs.
This is how examiners see your writing: not as rules broken, but as sentences that do or do not work.
1Correct the error: The figure for France was more higher than the figure for Italy.
Higher. An adjective takes either -er or more, never both. Doubling the comparative is one of the two most frequent errors in Academic Task 1.
2Correct the error: Spending on housing was the most highest of all four categories.
The highest. Same rule at the superlative. High is a short adjective, so it takes -est on its own.
3Correct the error: The unemployment rate in Germany was lower than Spain.
Than that in Spain. The sentence as written compares a rate with a country. That stands in for the rate, so the two things being compared match.
4Correct the error: Car ownership rose more quickly in urban areas then in rural ones.
Than. Than makes comparisons and then refers to time. They sound similar and the wrong one is easy to write at speed.
5Correct the error: Sales in the final quarter were twice higher than in the first.
Twice as high as. Multiples use the as ... as pattern, not the comparative. The same applies to three times as many as and half as many as.
6Correct the error: Of the five countries, Japan had the more significant increase.
The most significant. Comparing more than two items requires the superlative. More would only be correct if exactly two countries were involved.
That is normal, and it is the whole problem with grammar study. Recognising an error in a sentence someone has told you contains one is far easier than finding it in your own essay, where every sentence looks correct because you wrote it.
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Choosing the right option from four is not the same as producing the structure accurately under time in an essay.
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Because higher is already comparative. An adjective takes -er or more, and using both is a clear accuracy error.
Compare like with like, using that of or that in so that a figure is compared with a figure rather than with a country or a year.
When three or more items are involved. With exactly two, the comparative is correct.
Add a degree word: slightly, marginally, considerably, far, significantly, or a multiple such as twice as many as.
Than. Then refers to time and has no comparative use at all.
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