Big and Small

Making Comparisonsin English

Paris is a beautiful city.

Antwerp is a beautiful city, too.

SECOND COURSE GRAMMAR-FIRST THEME

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

Which one is higher?

The tabby cat is higher than the orange cat.

For many adjectives, you can use their opposites to make more sentences!

For example, the opposite of high is low.

The orange cat is lower than the tabby cat.

Which cat is longer?

• The cat on the right is longer than the cat on the left.

• For long words we use more (more beautiful) and for short words we add the -er ending

• (long -> longer)the cat on the rightthe cat on the left

What is a noun?

Noun is a word which refers to a thing, person, activity, place etc.

car

streetteache

r

reading

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What is an adjective?

Adjective is a word which describes a noun

fast

big

expensive

car

adjectives noun

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What is a syllable?

Syllable is a part of a word containing vowel sound

read

ing

read

ing1st syllable 2nd syllable

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Syllables – examples

1. One-syllable adjectives

2. Two-syllable adjectives

3. Three-syllable adjectives

fast bigcheaplong

hap

im

py crazy dirty

portant wonderful

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DEMONSTRATIVE:THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSEDISTRIBUTIVE:EACH, EVERY, EITHERQUANTITATIVE:SOME, ANY, NO, FEW, LITTLE,MANY, MUCH,INTERROGATIVE:WHICH, WHAT, WHOSEPOSSESSIVES:MY, ,YOUR, HIS,

OF QUALITY: CLEVER, SHY, FAT, GOLDEN, ……ADJECTIVES IN ENGLISH HAVE THE SAME FORM FOR SINGULAR AND PLURAL, MASCULINE AND FEMININE

KINDS OF ADJECTIVES

comparisons

Degrees of comparison:POSITIVE: DARK, TALL, USEFULCOMPARATIVE. DARKER,TALLER, MORE USEFUL

SUPERLATIVE THE DARKEST, THE TALLEST,

SAMENESS John is as tall as Peter I have as many friends as

you He has as much money as

me. INFERIORITY I have fewer friends than you

He has less money than me

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SAMENESS-COMPARING TWO THINGS OR PEOPLE

• WE USE:• VERB “TO BE”+AS+ADJECTIVE+AS TO SAY IN WHAT WAY TWO

THINGS OR PEOPLE ARE THE SAME

David is as clever as BobDavid isn’t as clever as Bob/David isn’t so clever

as Bob VERB “TO HAVE”+AS MANY+COUNTABLE NOUN +as+…….

I have as many books as you haveVerb “to have”+as much + uncountable noun +

as+…… He has got as much money as her.

ComparisonsVerb “to have got” + “more”+ countable or uncountable noun+ than+……

VERB “TO BE”+ COMPARATIVE FORM+THAN+……

.

Where you are:C0MPARISONS

ONE SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES:ADJECTIVE+ER

SPELLING RULES

ONE-SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES ENDING IN A SINGLE CONSONANT FOLLOWING A SINGLE VOWEL DOUBLE THE CONSONANT BEFORE ADDING THE SUFFIX “ER”

Fat FatterONE-SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES ENDING IN “E” DROP THE “E” BEFORE ADDING THE SUFFIX “ER”

Large LargerONE-SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES ENDING IN”Y” FOLLOWING A CONSONANT, CHANGE THE “Y” TO “I” BEFOREM ADDING THE SUFFIX “ER”

Shy Shier

IRREGULAR COMPARISONS

ADJECTIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

GOOD BETTER THE BEST

BAD WORSE THE WORST

LITTLE LESS THE LEAST

MANY/MUCH MORE THE MOST

FARFARTHER*FURTHER*

THE FARTHEST*

THE FURTHEST*

OLD

OLDERELDER(FOR

PEOPLE ONLY)***

THE OLDESTTHE

ELDEST(FOR PEOPLE ONLY)***

Where you areCOMPARISONS THREE SYLLABLES

AD

JEC

TIV

ES

O

F T

HR

EE

OR

MO

RE S

YLLA

BLES

Form

t

heir

com

para

tive b

y p

utt

ing

“M

OR

E” b

efo

re t

he a

dje

cti

ve

More beautifulMore expensiveMore interestingMore interested

Adjectives of two syllables follow one or other of the above rules

Those ending in “er”, “y” or “ly”,

usually add “more”Clever clevererPretty prettier

Silly sillier

Those ending in “ful” , or “re”,

usually take “more”

Useful more useful

Obscure more obscure

Where you areCOMPARISONSTwo syllables

One-syllable adjectives add “the + adjective+

”est”BIGTHE BIGGESTSPELLING RTULES

One-syllable adjectives ending in a single

consonant following a single vowel double the

consonant before Adding the suffix “est”Hot the hottest

Those ending in “e”, following a consonantDrop the “e” before

adding the suffix “est”Large the largest

Those ending in ”y” following a consonant change the “y” to “I”

before adding the suffixShy the shiest

Adjectives of three or more syllables form the superlative by putting “the most” before

the adjective beautiful the most beautiful

Adjectives of two syllables follow one or other of the above rules.

Those ending in “ful” “re”, “ ing “ ( present participle) , “ed” (past

participle) or irregular forms usually take “the most”

Useful the most usefulBoring the most boring

Those ending in “er” ,”ly”or “y” add “est”

Clever the cleverestPretty the prettiest

CONSTRUCTION WITH COMPARISONS

Comparisons of three or more people/things is expressed by :Verb “to be” + the superlative form+ IN /OFVigo is the most beautiful town in the worldPeter, Paul and Mary are clever but Mary is the cleverest of the threePARALLEL INCREASE IS EXPRESSED BY:The+comparative……………the+comparativeDo you want a big house? / yes the bigger the betterBut the smallest is the least expensiveGRADUAL INCREASE OR DECREASE IS EXPRESSED BYTWO COMPARATIVES JOINED BY AND..

The weather is getting hotte and hotterHe became less and less interested in her.

SUPERLATIVESEXPRESS THE

HIGHEST DEGREE OF SOMETHING OR

SOMEONE

Watch and listen for

• Better• Greater• Higher• Softer• Faster• Longer• Wear better• Sweeter

Warrior vs. Paladin: The Musical! is a machinima adaptation of the song Anything you can do I can do better by Irving Berlin. The song is part of the famous broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun.

Machinima is a combination of the words Machine + Cinema.It’s a way of making movies by using video games. In this example, the video game is World of Warcraft.