The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002
11.1. Comparison 1
Unit eleven. Comparison
Section 227; 500-504
• Most one-syllable and some two-syllable adjectives and adverbs take the endings -er and -est for their comparative and their superlative form respectively.
• Some shorter and all longer adjectives and adverbs form comparison with more and most.
• A small group of short adjectives, adverbs and quantifiers have irregular comparison.
When comparing two things we use comparative forms, when comparing more than two things we use superlative forms. To name these things we add an of-phrase, to name the sphere or range of comparison we add an in-phrase.
Task one **
Complete the following sentences with the most appropriate comparative OR superlative of the word in brackets, using
• adjective forms in sentences 1 to 5
• adverb forms in sentences 6 to 10
• adjective OR adverb forms in sentences 11 to 15.
1. The (serious) ... accident I ever got involved in crippled the (old) ... of my two daughters for the rest of her life.
2. I may be the (able) ... of all the mechanics in town but as for repairing a 1940s Morris, nothing could be (far) ... from my mind.
3. The situation is getting (bad) ... by the day, so even (drastic) ... measures will have to be considered.
4. Brian had expected old age to be the (unhappy) ... period in his life but he couldn’t have been (wrong) ... .
5. In some ways Hubert is (clever) ... than most people, but he is also one of the (shallow) ... minds I’ve ever come across.
6. Even the (careful) ... planned campaign can go (disastrous) ... wrong than anyone would imagine.
7. (hard) ... hit by the floods is the Mekong delta, one of the (dense) ... populated areas in Asia.
8. No one is (high) ... praised by fashion connoisseurs than Ms Heartthrob, who has been dubbed “the (good) ...-dressed woman walking the planet”.
9. Political observers are (acute) ... aware than ever that this is now the (autocratic) ... ruled country south of the Sahara.
10. (little) ... talented authors are often (wide) ... read than their (true) ... artistic counterparts.
11. The (old) ... Brian grew, the (close) ... attached he became to family values.
12. The (heavy) ... injured of the two victims had to be taken to the (near) ... hospital.
13. A (thorough) ... investigation will be needed if we are to find an answer to the (hot) ... debated issue of the decade.
14. Having an affair with a young intern is one of the (emphatic) ... denied allegations in US public life. Apparently, speaking the truth is the (little) ... of some politicians’ concerns.
15. The (long) ...-serving chef in London had made the (great) ... efforts imaginable to make the Christmas pudding taste (delicious) ... than ever.
Task two **
Use two different superlative forms of ’late’ in the following extract. What is the difference in meaning?
The ... figures show joblessness rising to almost 3.9 million, about 9.3 per cent of the work force. (...) Germany currently rank ... among the euro zone’s 12 in terms of economic growth.
(adapted from Newsweek, 27 August 2001, p. 14)
Task three **
Combine the following words and phrases into short sentences, using superlative adjectives and adding connecting words.
Examples: Joan/professional/these five photographers.
→ Joan is the most professional of these five photographers.
Joan/professional/photographer/town.
→ Joan is the most professional photographer in town.
1. the Red Bull/good/pub/the northern hemisphere
2. Winnie/attractive/the three girls
3. religious fundamentalism/bad/our enemies
4. the Ibans/fierce/tribe/Borneo
5. the moon landing/exciting/event/the 1960s
6. Gregory/tough/Sam’s opponents
7. Shirley/competent/secretary/the department
8. the Thirty Years’ War/bloody/conflict/17th century Europe
9. David/bright/my overseas students
10. malaria/common/present-day tropical diseases
11. Bologna/old/university/the world
12. Nero/ruthless/the Roman emperors