LANGUAGE REFERENCE
110
5
GRAMMAR
G1
COMPARISONS
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Use comparative and superlative adjectives to make
comparisons between people or things. Comparative
adjectives compare one person/thing with another.
The Apennine Mountains in Italy are quite
high
.
The Carpathians in Romania are
higher
.
You usually make comparisons with
than
.
The Carpathians are
higher than
the Apennines.
Superlative adjectives compare one person/thing
with several other people/things (more than two).
Use
the
before the superlative adjective.
The Alps are
the highest
mountains in Europe.
Note the different ways of forming the comparative
and superlative adjectives.
G2
AS … AS
Adding
as … as
to adjectives allows you to compare
similar features; it doesn’t matter how many syllables
the adjective has.
Rome is
as beautiful as
Paris. (= Rome and Paris
are beautiful.)
Adding
not as … as
to an adjective is another way
of comparing two things. Use
not as … as
with all
adjectives.
The Atlantic Ocean
is not as calm as
the Mediterranean.
This lake
isn’t as big as
the first lake we saw.
G3
EXPRESSIONS OF QUANTITY
Use
a lot of
,
many
and
much
to talk about large
quantities and amounts. You use
many
with countable
plural nouns and
much
with uncountable nouns.
Many animals
are in danger because there isn’t
much food
for them.
You use
a lot of
with both countable and
uncountable nouns.
A lot of animals
are in danger because there isn’t
a lot of food
for them.
!
It is quite formal to use
many
in affirmative
sentences. In informal English, you use
a lot of
.
I have
a lot of
squirrels in my garden.
You use
many
in affirmative and negative statements,
but you only use
much
in negative statements.
There are many
grey squirrels in the UK, but
there
aren’t many
red squirrels now.
There isn’t much
damage to the environment here.
Use
few
and
little
in affirmative statements to talk
about small quantities and amounts. They mean ‘not
many / not much’. Use
few
with countable plural
nouns and
little
with uncountable nouns.
There are
few tigers
in the world.
There’s
little hope
for some animals.
You do not usually use
few
and
little
with questions and
negative statements. You use
not many / not much
.
We
haven’t got many
trees in the garden.
Is there much
rain in the desert?
KEY LANGUAGE
KL
JUSTIFYING CHOICES
This one is (clearer/more dramatic).
In the (first) photograph, some people are watching …
In the (foreground), you can see …
There are (a lot of people) in the background.
On the (right) of the picture, (someone is walking …)
They look (very professional).
I like the way this one …
I think this is better because …
It makes you feel (sad) …
I think we should use this one because …
VOCABULARY
V1
LANDSCAPES
nouns: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, island, lagoon,
lake, mountain, peak, river, rock, sand, sea, wave
adjectives: beautiful, calm, cheap, deep, exciting,
high, impressive, interesting, long, magical, peaceful,
pleasant, popular, romantic, sandy, steep, strange,
tropical, warm, wild
V2
WORDS THAT ARE NOUNS AND VERBS
cause, change, control, damage, harm, hope, plant,
shop, stop
V3
CONTRAST
but, in contrast, whereas
Adjective
Comparative Superlative
one-syllable
cheap
cheap
er
cheap
est
adjectives
• ending in -
e
strange
strang
er
strang
est
• ending in -
y
dry
dr
ier
dri
est
• ending in
flat
flat
ter
flat
test
vowel +
consonant
most two-
peaceful
more
most
syllable
peaceful
peaceful
adjectives
• ending in -
y
pretty
prett
ier
prett
iest
• ending
narrow
narrow
er
narrow
est
in -
ow
• ending
clever
clever
er
clever
est
in -
er
adjectives of
popular
more
most
three or more
popular
popular
syllables
mysterious
more
most
mysterious
mysterious
irregular
good
better
best
adjectives
bad
worse
worst
far
farther/
farthest/
further
furthest
