Practise your comparatives

as 7 Irregular adj ectives bad - worse and quan fiers much - more 8 Negativeandposi ve comparisons 9 Adjectiveor quantifier +n un: abetter job andn t such a good job 10 Comparative adjec

Comparative adjectives

1 S ort words an long words:cheap - cheaper but expensive - more expensive

2 Speling: hot- hotter; lucky - luckier

3 Two-syllable adjectives: narrower ormore narrow

4 One-two-andthree-syllable adjectives

5 More or less?

6 Negatives:not as as

7 Irregular adj ectives (bad - worse) and quan fiers (much - more)

8 Negativeandposi ve comparisons

9 Adjectiveor quantifier +n un: abetter job andn t such a good job

10 Comparative adjectve phrases: not as interesting to talk to as

Superlative adjectives

11 Short words and long words: the tallest man; themost dangerous snak

1 Spelling: busy - busiest;fit -fittest; blue - bluest

1 Irregular adjectives (far-furthest) and quantifiers (lttle -least)

1 Superlatve adjectives: mixed ty es

1 Superlatve orcomparative best of them all but better than the others

1 Superlatives andcomparatives wihe er and never

1 One of the -est and the second -est

1 Zero article su erlatives: Lond n is ho est in July.

Adverbs: Comparative and superlative

1 Comparatve andsuperlative adverbs (regular: more easily - most easily

20 Irregular comparative and superlative adverbs: well- better - best

2 Adverb or adjective comparison? safer ormore safely?

Comparative structures with adjectives, adverbs and quantifiers

22 Quantifiers, adjectives andadverbs: posi ve and negative forms

23 Verbal comparisons: It cost more than I thought it would

24 Modifiers: much more quickly; not nearly as many

25 Equal compariso : as as; l ke; the same +n un

26 Twice as as; three times as as

2 Continuous change: more and moreslowly .

28 Parallel change: the more you earn themore tax you pay

Sa ings and idioms

:2 P p lar sayings

Comparative structures areasource of confusion to many

students of English.Practise Y ur Comparatives provides clearexamples and practice exercises foreach aspect of these

structures that islikelyto cause problems for intermediate

students

Like the other workbooks inthePractise Your series,Practise Your Comparatives is suitable forself-access and classroom useand benefits from thefollowing features:

• Language ispractised incontext to makei e sier to seethemeanings which determine the choice ofapartcular form

• There isvariety of exercise ty es, contexts and text types

• The units aregraded, from items withsimplerules at thebeginnin ofthe bo k to more complexitemstowards the end

• Pictures, artwork, diagrams,charts, realia and factual andsometimes amusing informato all helptomaintain interest as

well as providing clear contexts and relating language to thereal world

• Personalisati n exercises at the end ofsomeunits enablestudents torelate structures to their own livesand ideas Thesemore open-ended exercises arealways preceded by contro edexercises in order to minimise theriskof errors However,students may find it helpful tocheck their work in theseexercises with atea her

Itishoped that this workbook will befound enjoyable and useful

Theauthor andthe publishers welcome comments from users

[ J Comparative adj e ctives: short wor ds and

long words

Short words and -y words

cheap- cheaper happy - happier

Long words

expensive - more expensive

modern ~more modern

This shop is ch eaper t h an that one

That shop is mor e ex pe nsive t han this one

D A lette from New York

An English girl,Anna,went to New York onh liday.Shewrote a

letter to an En lish frien

Ch ose oneofthese adjectives foreachspace intheletter o the

next page.Wrie ea ho ein its correct comparative form

, nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn-OiOh Jordnnnn ' n

n n r

l J e cur 1Il1 (Jfl if I

If},; L!U!lf dlll&7e r cf fo i rnr do n flze /f tJ71 M M e

iiiAnna liked New York so much that shedecided tostay there Now

sheismarried toanAmeric n.Herfriends fromEnglan

sometimes ask her about her opinionof American people

Complete their questi ns wihthe wordsinbrackets

1 (nice) Doyou think Americans are n i c e r th e m Eng shpeople

2 (ambito s) Do youthin Americans Englishpeople?

3 (kind) Doyou think Americans English people?

4 (interesting) Doyou think Americans Englishpeople?

5 (democratic) Do you think Americans Eng sh people?

6 (happy) Do you think Americans English people

~ Spelling

big- b i gger clean- cleaner

3 luck -lu c i e r 4 nice-nicer

healthy - healthier wide-wider

1Final consonants ( except wandy) are doubled if they follow a single vowel

2 A finalconsonant is not doubled if itfollows a consonant ortwovowels

3 A finalY becomes aniif itfollows aconsonant

4 If a word endsine ,onlyanris added

IIWritethese adjectives and their comparative formsin the correct boxbelow

safe cloudy dry brig t fit keen ne t we lthy

free pro d late thin wet sad wide sunny

s f e - s af e

BHowmany comparative adje tves can you fin ? Begin each word

wihaletter fromcolumn 1, hen take a letter from column2 and

so on Use each letter only once

IIBritish people frequently talk about theweather be ause the

weather changes so often in Britain.Canyoucomplete these

typical conversations?

1 A It isn't verynicetoday,isit?

2 A It isn't very warm today, is it?

B N o , ' blAt LV> WClrmer- them l1e1terM~_. _

3 A Itisn't verysunny today, sit?

nt"24'c" U J' " 2 0G.

~

W Two-syllable adjectives: -e r or rr w r e + adjective

m Adject i ve + -eror mor e + adjec tiv e?

Writeone group ofexamples (a-e) ineach ofthe spaces in the

grammar notes below

(a) moresurprised, more careful,moreb ring,morefamo s

(b) narrow,h low,clever,bitter, simple,gente

(c) happier, heavier, dirtier

However,a few 2-syllablewords can use either form

They are (a) words whichsound almostlkeI-syllablewords;

IIRight or wrong?

Here is a page from a student's exercise book.There are mistakes

in six ofthe sentences Putalnethrough the mistakes andwrite

the corrections on the right.Do not put aline through aword

unless i is definitely wrong

Campara1 Lue5

2 Ne.uJ YOTRh ~n er th arl Lon dan.

4- B u:t Jan e Ls mare poiite th.an Mary

6 Pluvse be qu i eter ~

8 My sen ten ce i , s carrecter than ~ aurs

q ll1.ih ~erMe l s mare eMy tha n t:h L one

ro A l eJnan ~ more b i i:ter than a n crra ng e.

II Yau rru vst be carefu.Ler ~

12 Why ca.rtt ~au be rTUJT'e h one5t ?

13 Ca n you be €h<a.cter?

14 Dartt m.a ke IUm tTUJre a.n.noyed .

15 I uro s ll'UJT'e su rpr i - s ed th a n h e l lJU I S

16 Trllis m a chi.ne i , s SlmpLer th a n the others

17 " fhi s rcro cCs n ar rawer tha n the oth e rs

18 Th i.-s l I 5 more urg ertt tharl tha.t.

Iq H e g e ts stup i d e r euery day.

20 Can y011 come more ea.r4l ne xt tUne ?

2/ I) m h a.n,d ; sam er th a n rn.y brath er

22 5 pain i t s d.r LeA thaJl Bri.tain

4 On e- tw o- an d t hr ee - sy ll able adjectives

Examples

This i so l der t han t h at

It's narrower t h a n t h at

It ' s more common than that

It's more interesting than that.

IIIt is Mark's birt h day tomo r row Lisa has just bought a p r esent for

h im Use the words in brackets to comp l ete Lisa ' s sentences

M A RK: What is it ? Te ll m e!

LISA: I I tell you it won't be a surprise to m orrow

MARK : I know but Is it a reco r d?

MARK: Really? I t isn ' t a computer , is it?

MARK: Oh, I can ' t g u ess.

L ISA : Good!

M A RK: Wait ! I know l I t's a book - on e of those big Art books

MARK : Ah A pair of t r ousers?

MARK : I nformativ e You mean it g i ves information A video cass e tt e

MARK : Oh, I give up!

Andrea likes sen and dark colours.

Lisa likes delicate lewellery

O ' "likes sweet things.

n i C"

Simon likes old things.

Peter like modern thing \I tor the kitchen).

h' s (espeCla Paul likes u etul t Ing d romantic tilms.

Angela likes bright colours an

A WouldAndrea like a funnybook?

B She'd like 1 Mmethi A 1g mare /,)eri0"!A6 ti1aVl that.

Thepictures showwhat Peter, Jo n,Jenny, Hazel and Sam didyesterday.

Aftere ch ofthe sentenc s (1-5), write the name of the person whois speaking

JenYl!1 went

1 'It was more frightening than thedentist but lessuncomfortable.' _~ _ says

2 'It was more painfulthan working and less profitable.' says

3 'It was less enjoyable than aholidaybutmoreurgent' says

4 'It wasles n isythan a disco and it waseasier to talk to people there.'

5 'It wasles exciting than afootball match but moreuseful for my studies.'

-. - says

says

I ! IWritetrue sentences about theplaces and activities below.

Be carefulISome sentences arenegative (l ss )and some are

positive (more or-er).

notn rmally used with short adjectives.)

IILook at thepictures of three filmstars andthen complete the

dialogues below,using the no t as adjecti e asstructure

1 A ChrisCarter's richer than Bernard Bjorg

B Yes bu, t ne i odt M r0 tM Alfie AVlderMYl.

2 A Bernard Bjorg'smore attractive than Chris Carter

6 A Alfie Anderson's faceis more sensitive than Chris Carter's

iiiNow write some sentences about somereal filmstars

1

I T ] I rr eg ul ar ad j ectives and quantifi e r s

A d jectives Quan ti f i ers

bad-worse much-more

good - better many~more

far - further little ( quantity) -less

few-fewer

IIUse one word from the box above to filleachspace in the weather

forecast below

have even 1 sunshine tomorrow There will be

2 cloud than there has been today and thewind will~

be stronger, especially in the north of England, where there wi

be storms and heavy rain

The south of En lan is 3 _

over Scotland, so the weather in the south willnot be as

4 as in the north and there willbe 5 _

storms in the south.However,it willremain 6 _

usual for this time ofyear in allparts of the country

The good news is that there is high pressure coming across the

Atlantc.This willbring some 7 weather by the

weekend

III What's the wea t he r like whe r e yo u are?

Isit better than last month ornot as good?

Is it clou ier? sunnier? hotter? coolerthan last month?

Write some true sentences

1

People in Switzerland, Britain andNorwayeat 1 _

chocolate 2 anyone else.A ty ical Swiss eats 8.7 kios

of chocolate peryear,which is 165 grammes a week.The

Norwegians and the British eat 3 kios than the Swis

but 4 _ anyone else

At the other end of the scaleare the southern European

countries: Portu uese and Italianpeople donot

buy 5 chocolate 6 anyof theirnorthern neighbours Perhaps thisis because oftheir climate: inthe north there are not 7 h t days 8 _ in

the south, where melting is a problem.However,in parts ofAustralia and the United States the climate is very hot and alot ofchocolate is eaten anyway.Americans and Australans

eat 9 _ _ k os 1 0 the French andthe Finns

the Danes

It s interesting that the Japanese buyvery little chocolate;

Although they do not eat 1 _ _ the Portuguese,

they eat other people from industrialised

em Negative and positive compa ri sons ( r eg ul a r a n d

i rr eg ul a r )

Examples

Livingin the country ishealth ie r than living inthe town

Living in the townisn't as hea lthy asli ing inthecountry

IIDo you know what is good for you?

John andPeter alwaysdisagree

Complete Peter's answers and decide whether he isright orwrong

Walkingfor anh ur isn't as goodfory uas

running for ten minutes

Takinglong holidays isn't ashealthy as

working hard all the time

D

Eating abig meal inthe evening is les

fattening than havinga big lunch

D

iiiHow calm and relaxed are you?

1 Doing something useful is mor~

ble than wa t ching teleVIs i on.

en l oya

2 Playing f or fun is less satis f y i ng t han

3 Being admired is n i cer than being liked.

4 Compet i ng is more enjoyable than

coope rati ng

5 D r iving safely is less impo r tan t than

arriv i ng on time.

6 People who d ri ve too slo w l y a r e w orse

than people who drive t oo f as t

7 Chatting is less interes t ing t han

di s cu s i ng wo rk.

8 Vis i ng Impo rt an t monum

than lying on the beach

IIR ew r it e t h e s e n t e nces f o m E x e r c i se 2, u sin g no t as as.

W ri t e YOU R opi n i on.

1 EI TH ER Y M Wat d 1i + 1g TV L , 1V1 t M eV l jQYab l e M doiMg , oam e thi-trg lAt 1 efu l

OR N o Doing oa m e thi - ng LiOefi A l ~V l 't a1 enjQYabl e M w a tcni t n < 3 T _ V _

[Q] A dj ec ti ve or quantifi e r + noun

Po s itiv e Negativ e

lapels: ASSIS ANT:

Y U :

20

I!INow the assistant showsyousome things y u like.

Saywhy you prefer them tothethings yo sawbefore (in Exercise 1)

[ Q ] Comparativ e adj e ctiv e phra se s

Examples

Leeisn't as eas y to work with a sClint

IIA dog, a cat or a horse?

m Write an advertisement.

Usethe informatio about eachitemtodescribe its advantages inonesentence

Using this computer issimple.Youcanalsocarryi easily

It's ~i - rnRI , er 1:0 ~ e and ea6ier 1 : 0 carr!1 t¥I(iH1

Thisladder is safewhenyou stand on itYoucanstore itconvenienty, too

[T I J Sup e rlativ e adj e ctiv e s - short words and long words

old~ (the) oldest beautiful~ (the) most beautful

early~ (the) earliest useful ~ (the) most useful

A few 2-syllable adjectives

form the superlative with-est

and the comparative with-er (see Unit 3,Exercise 2)

Harrods isnot the cheapes t shop inLondo lCe a Jec Ive nou

Harrods is London's mo stjamous shop.(No article after apossessive form)

IIComplete eachsentence wihoneof the following adjectives inthe superlative form

1 George MacAree,o theleft of the picture is

8 RichardLatter, who died in191 ,had

~ Sp e llin g

Th speling rules forsu erlatives aresimilarto the rules for

Unit 2)

IICrossword

Where thebase form is given, write the superlative form

Wh re the superlative formis given,write the baseform

~ Irr eg ul a r adjecti ves and quantifi e r s

"

bad - (the) worst much - (the) most

good - (the) best man - (the) most

far - (the) furthest little - (the) least

Exa m p l es : She's th e b estfriend he's got

She'shis bestfriend.(Noarticle after the possessive form)

Read the information below

Thencomplete the sentences wiha superlative and an artic l e ijpossi bl e

IIMieko,Petra and Mariehavejust flownintoLondo Airport from

different parts of the world Petra is nowfurther from homethan

Mariebut not as far from home asMiekois Surprisingly, the

person wh isfurther fromh me than the others hasn't themost

luggage But that person has more luggage than Petra Petra had

quite a goodtrip Marie saysitwasthe worst flig t shehas ever

had However, Miekohad a worse flig t than Mariedid:her plane

was delayed for 14 hours

house In fact she has gotthe best room in the house It is quite

large and has anice view.The other twostudents will live wih

Eng sh familiesaspayingguests, whichwill be cheaper Oneof

the familiesis not far from the school the other familyison the

other side of the citybut there is a good bus service.The cheapest

room is the furthest onefrom the school and it is quite large

Mariewill have to spend moremo ey on busfares than Petra but

lessmo ey on her accommodation Petra's room isnotthemost

expensive onebut it is larger than Mieko's

[ Hl Superlative adj e ctiv e s: mix e d typ e s

B Advantages and disadvantages

Three students are going to share a flat.The flat has three rooms,

a big kitchen and a bathroom You must help them todecide

which roomeach student sho ldhave

First look at he plan of the flat

Maken tes ofthe advantages and disadvantages of eachroom

Usethesuperl a ti ve formof the following adjectives an phrases:

warm n isy quiet sunny little sunlig t cheap expensive

large a good view small comfortable easyto clean

many windows good for workingin near the kitchen

Room!

WC lY W l e1t

fJ Read about the three students Then fil each space with one of

the words or phrases fromyournotes in Exercise 1.Usean article

(th e ) where possible

PETE is the mos t serious student He spends a lot of time working

in his room so he likes to have a good view from his window He

has not got much money.

JOHN is the friendliest of the three students He likes to invite a lot

of friends to his room He enjoys cooking , hates dark rooms and

has plenty o f money

EDDY is rather lazy He likes to do as little as possible He likes

9 _ windowsand faces south.It s also

EDD Y, the lazy one, wouldprefer not tohave to walkupstairs tohis room.Hehates

cold rooms so he would liketo have 11 _ room

room.Ed ydoes not study much so he would not mind that it is the flat's

14 _ room.He stays inbedformu h ofthe day

~ Sup e rlative or comparative?

Examples

He is the best in the team

ojthe eleven players

He isb etter than

the ten others

He is not as good as

The Br i tish Royal Fmnily

IIComplete the sentences, using one of the phrases from the boxin

5 Andrew is the second oldest of _

6 Andrew isnot as young

7 Edward is younger

8 Edward is the youngest

IIIHavey o got brothers or sisters?

Look at the diagram carefullyand then complete the text Usea

comparative structure (p sitive or negative) or asuperlative

structure (+preposition if necessary)

On the edge ofourfamily of planets, or solar system,is Pluto,

which is ( cold) 1th e cotd e1 t of all theplanets and (far)

Mercuryalthough noother planet is ( close) 4 _

the sun.Mercury,withasurface temperature of about 420°C is

temperature of about 475°C

Mercuryis(small) 6 thenineplanets and

Jupiter is (large) 7 the solarsystem

Mercury, Mars and Venus aresimiartoEarth in some ways

Venus is (close) 8 toEarth However it islesssimilar

to Earth than Marsis Although Venus is a small planet itlooks

(bright) 9 thefour large planets In fact of all

the planets it is (bright) 10 in our sky

Lookat the diagram again and check that it agre s with your

[§ ] Superlatives and comparatives with e v e r and

Write sentences using the words in brackets

1 (b ring/see) That's the moot bOYi t trg fU t m I ' ve

ever l1eeVI.