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The Adjective The Degrees of Comparison: I. Rules and Uses

The document provides a four-stage procedure for teaching the degrees of comparison of adjectives to intermediate level students aged 14-16 years old. The stages include: 1. A lead-in activity using pictures to introduce the topic and have students identify differences using comparative language. 2. A fill-in-the-blank activity to practice using the degrees of comparison correctly. 3. An activity having students correct errors in examples using the degrees of comparison. 4. A writing activity where students compare options like houses using descriptive language and the degrees of comparison in a letter format.

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Diana Gonzali
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169 views4 pages

The Adjective The Degrees of Comparison: I. Rules and Uses

The document provides a four-stage procedure for teaching the degrees of comparison of adjectives to intermediate level students aged 14-16 years old. The stages include: 1. A lead-in activity using pictures to introduce the topic and have students identify differences using comparative language. 2. A fill-in-the-blank activity to practice using the degrees of comparison correctly. 3. An activity having students correct errors in examples using the degrees of comparison. 4. A writing activity where students compare options like houses using descriptive language and the degrees of comparison in a letter format.

Uploaded by

Diana Gonzali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE ADJECTIVE

THE DEGREES OF COMPARISON


I. RULES AND USES
1. Features
 Adjectives describe nouns.
 They have the same form in both the singular and plural form.
 They normally go before the nouns. They also go alone, without nouns, after the verbs
to be, to appear, to become, to feel, to seem, to smell, to taste.
She bought an expensive house.
He felt nervous./ The food tastes bad./ The perfume smells nice./ He is tired.
 The adjectives afraid, alone, alive, awake, asleep, glad are never followed by nouns.
The baby was asleep. (not * an asleep baby)
 Certain adjectives can be used as plural nouns referring to a group of people in general
the poor, the rich, the blind, the old, the young, the disabled, the hungry etc
The rich should help the poor.
 Opinion adjectives go before fact adjectives. When there are more than two fact
adjectives, they go in the following order:
Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Used for Noun
It’s a wonderful large old square brown Italian wooden linen chest.
However, no more than three adjectives are recommended in the same sentence.

2. Regular Comparative and Superlative Forms


Adjective Positive Comparative Superlative
+ER THE adj+EST
(than) (of/ in)
of one syllable Short Shorter The shortest
Big Bigger The biggest
Large Larger The largest

of two syllables Heavy Heavier The heaviest


ending in –y,-w, Shallow Shallower The shallowest
-er, -ly

Comparative Superlative
of two or more Special MORE +adj THE MOST +adj
syllables Beautiful More special The most special
More beautiful The most beautiful

Certain adjectives form their comparative and superlative in both ways: clever,
common, cruel, friendly, gentle, narrow, pleasant, polite, quiet, simple, stupid:
Clever --- cleverer/ more clever --- the cleverest/ the most clever
3. Irregular forms
Good - better - the best
Bad - worse - the worst
Much/ many/ a lot of - more - the most
Little/ few - less - the least
Far - further/ the furthest - the furthest/ the farthest

! Very + positive degree (very nice, very beautiful)


Even/ a lot/ much/ far/ a bit + comparative degree (even/ a lot/ much/ far/ a bit
bigger)

4. Types of comparisons
 As + positive degree + as (as beautiful as)
 Not as/ not so/ not such + positive degree + as (He is not as tall as/ not so tall as/ not
such a good player as Jim.)
 Less + positive degree + than (less important than)
 The least + positive degree + in/ of (the least important in/ of)
 The + comparative.., the + comparative.. (The less you eat, the more you lose weight.)
 Comparative + and + comparative ( smaller and smaller/ better and better/ more and
more interesting)

II. ACTIVITIES
Teach the degrees of comparison of the Adjective. passive to Intermediate
Level Students. Devise four appropriate meant to teach the topic. Specify: the
aim(s), the estimated time, students’ level, students’ age.

We can adopt a four-stage procedure for teaching the degrees of comparison.


STAGE 1/ LEAD-IN ACTIVITY
LEVEL: Intermediate
AGE: 14-16 year-old students
ESTIMATED TIME: 5 minutes
AIM: to allow students to predict the new topic/ to introduce the topic and
offer opportunities to use the degrees of comparison.

Activity 1. / Oral Activity. In teams, find the differences between picture A and picture B.
Procedure: The teacher gives each team two pictures, each one presenting two different
people in a room. Those who discover more differences and write more correct sentences in 5
minutes will be the winners.
In picture A, there are more paintings on the wall (than in picture B)
In picture B, the man is older and the woman is younger (than those in picture A).
In picture A, the room is more crowded (than the room in picture B)
In picture B, there are less objects on the floor (than in picture A) etc.
STAGE 2 / ACTIVITY 2
LEVEL: Intermediate
AGE: 14-16 year-old students
ESTIMATED TIME: 5 minutes
AIM: to allow students to practice the degrees of comparison/ to improve
grammar skills.

Activity 2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate degrees of comparison:

Dear Wendy,
You asked me for advice on what to study at the university, so I thought to write straight
back because, the sooner (soon) you make a decision, the ______ (soon) you’ll be able to
apply for a place. You say you are not _____ (interested) in the Sciences as you are in the
Arts. That is all very well, but the Fine Arts are _______ (little/ useful) than the Sciences
when it comes to getting a job at the end of the course. As you know, it’s getting ______
(difficult) for graduates to find work these days. My opinion is that Arts is ________ (little/
useful) all the subjects you could do. Of course, the final decision is up to you. I wish you
good luck!
Love,
Amy

STAGE 3 / ACTIVITY 3
LEVEL: Intermediate
AGE: 14-16 year-old students
ESTIMATED TIME: 10 minutes
AIM: to enable students to recognize and correct the mistakes in using the
degrees of comparison of the adjective.

Activity 3: Correct the errors in the following letter:


Dear Paul,
I am now in London, after the longer train ride I’ve ever had. It’s the best than I expected.
The city is big than I thought and the buildings are oldest than in my town. I’m staying at
the good hotel I’ve ever seen. It’s hardest to get around than I had imagined, but it’s a
good idea to avoid the Northern Line on the tube, as it is the longer one. Tomorrow, we
are going to visit Eton school, the old school in London. I can’t wait! Write soon,
Jim
STAGE 4 / ACTIVITY 4: FOLLOW-UP
LEVEL: Intermediate
AGE: 14-16 year-old students
ESTIMATED TIME: 15 minutes
AIM: to improve grammar skills, to reinforce the correct use of the degrees of
comparison of the adjective.

Activity 4. / Writing activity. Your friend has asked you to help him find a place to buy in
Brighton. You have found a flat, a small house and a big house. Write him a letter comparing
the three, using the information in the boxes.
Procedure: The teacher gives each student a sheet of paper with three pictures representing a
flat, a small house and a big house and the following information:
Flat: 150,000 pounds
Near the city center/ quite small/ noisy area/ very modern/ 2 years old
Small house: 255,000 pounds
5 km away from the city center/ quiet area/ traditional house/ 40 years old
Big house: 380,000 pounds
10 km away from the city center/ very quiet/ very big/ very modern/ 15 years old

The students must write a letter comparing the three houses:


Dear John,
As you asked me to help you, here is what I could find as good options in Brighton for you.
I found three houses and I’ll start with the cheapest one, the flat near the city center. It
costs 150,000 pounds and, although very well situated, it is the smallest of the three……..

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