English Grammar with Kudjo. Part 4. Понятная и забавная грамматика для детей и взрослых

REGULAR COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS

Adjectives of one syllable add – (e) r/– (e) st to form their comparative and superlative forms: fast-faster-the fastest

Adjectives of two syllables ending in -Iy, -y, -w also add -er/-est: rainy-rainier-the rainiest

Adjectives of two or more syllables take more/most: dangerous-more dangerous – the most dangerous

There are a few exceptions to these rules:

often – more/most often

fun – more/most fun

real – more/most real

bored – more/most bored

pleased – more/most pleased

worn- more/most worn

Certain adjectives form their comparative and superlative in both ways, either by adding -er/-est to the positive form or with more/most: clever, common, cruel, friendly, gentle, narrow, pleasant, polite, shallow, simple, stupid, quiet.

For example, simple – simpler – simplest or simple – more simple – the most simple

A few common adjectives have irregular forms:

good – better – best

bad – worse – worst

far – further – furthest

When we compare two things in a sentence, we use the word than: The lynx is stronger than Luna.

Before comparatives, we can use these words to express the degree of difference:

small difference — a bit / a little / slightly

great difference — a lot / much / far

The lynx is far bigger than Kit.

We can use the structure The (comparative), the (comparative) when one quality depends on another: The more the dogs talked to the lynx, the friendlier they became.

We use superlatives when comparing three or more things, or when comparing one thing to all other things.

Remember that you must always use the with superlatives: The lynx is the biggest animal they have ever communicated with.

Before superlatives, we can use these words to express the degree of difference: easily, by far, altogether, simply, by a long way:

The dogs ate what was altogether the yummiest supper they had ever had.

If two things are equal, then we use as… as or just as… as with a positive form of the adjective:

The lynx is just as friendly as a home cat.

And for multiples of a quantity, we can say twice (the number of times) as… as…

But she is three times as big as a home cat.

EXERCISE 7

Put the adjectives in brackets into the correct form and add any necessary words:

It is what the lynx thinks of her new friends:

1 Kit is ten times /small/ me, but he is /brave/ a lion.

2 Chilly seems to be /courageous/ all of us.

3 I wonder why /long/ I communicate with Chilly, /jealous/ Luna becomes.

4 Cuba is far /modest/ Luna. I’d rather say, she is simply /shrinking/ in her ways.

5 Chilly is by far /clever/ dog I’ve ever met. He is even /clever/ me!

6 Kit is altogether /funny/ ha-ha. He is /fun/ to have around!

7 I wish I could be /beautiful/ Luna. On the other hand, I am a lot /graceful/ her.

8 I know nothing about Kudjo but everybody says he is by far /good/of /good/.

9 They say he is /bold/ a lion, /strong/ an ox, /smart/ paint and /handsome/ a young Greek god.

EXERCISE 8

Fill the gaps in the story with missing words:

As far as you have already *****, the friends were able to get the lynx out of the ***** and she led them to a scary huge *****, where she lived. The lynx behaved so ***** and hospitable that Kit and the dogs stopped feeling ***** and relaxed next to this big wild *****. ***** more ***** they spent together, ***** matier they *****. Chilly narrated their ***** in search of Kudjo. The lynx told them everything she ***** about a crazy ***** who had made such ***** all around the forest to catch wild animals for his weird *****. At this point Chilly remembered about Kudjo’s *****, which they had found near the pit, and he shuddered at the thought that Kudjo could have been ***** by that insane scientist. The friends were ***** exhausted to think about further steps ***** make and fell asleep immediately after ***** by far ***** yummiest supper they had ***** had.

EXERCISE 9

Find and correct 12 mistakes in the sentences:

1 After waking up at dawn, the dogs and Kit couldn’t recognize the cave. It looked a lot more lighter and cosier than during the night.

2 The lynx herself looked by far prettier, weaker and smaller than before. Fear takes molehills for mountains.