Unit 8

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Unit 8

Comparisons

Focus on Corfu and Athens

What do you think
the advantages of going
to each place are?

Exercise 1.2 (page 60)

Listen to the discussion. How many of the advantages you identified do they mention?

Exercise 1.3 (page 60)

Listen again and fill in the gaps

Answers

2. the best (beach) on

3. as little as

4. the most boring

5. more peaceful than

6. as much as

You have just made comparisons

Different ways to compare

• comparative
• superlative
• (not) as ... as

Comparisons (1)

What is similar in each case?

word	comparative	superlative
big	bigger (than)	(the) biggest
slow	slower (than)	(the) slowest
cheap	cheaper (than)	(the) cheapest
soft	softer (than)	(the) softest
sweet	sweeter (than)	(the) sweetest
hard	harder (than)	(the) hardest

• 1-syllable words:
• comparative: word + er
• superlative: word + est 

Comparisons (2)

What is similar in each case?

word	comparative	superlative
beautiful	more beautiful (than)	(the) most beautiful
annoying	more annoying (than)	(the) most annoying
dangerous	more dangerous (than)	(the) most dangerous
difficult	more difficult (than)	(the) most difficult
exciting	more exciting (than)	(the) most exciting
ridiculous	more ridiculous (than)	(the) most ridiculous

• Words with 3 or more syllables:
• comparative: more + word
  
• superlative: most + word

Comparisons (4)

What is similar in each case?

word	comparative	superlative
easy	easier (than)	(the) easiest
funny	funnier (than)	(the) funniest
tidy	tidier (than)	(the) tidiest
lucky	luckier (than)	(the) luckiest
pretty	prettier (than)	(the) prettiest
dreamy	dreamier (than)	(the) dreamiest

• 2-syllable words ending in -y:
• comparative: word + er (mind the spelling!)
  
• superlative: word + est (mind the spelling!)

Comparisons (5)

What is similar in each case?

word	comparative	superlative
gentle	gentler / more gentle(than)	(the) gentlest / most gentle
simple	simpler / more simple (than)	(the) simplest / most simple
clever	cleverer / more clever(than)	(the) cleverest / most clever
tender	tenderer / more tender (than)	(the) tenderest / most tender
narrow	narrower / more narrow (than)	(the) narrowest / most narrow
shallow	shallower / more shallow (than)	(the) shallowest / most shallow

• 2-syllable words ending in -le / er / ow:
• comparative: word + er of more + word
  
• superlative: word + est of most + word

Comparisons (6)

What is similar in each case?

word	comparative	superlative
boring	more boring (than)	(the) most boring
tired	more tired (than)	(the) most tired
careful	more careful (than)	(the) most careful
famous	more famous (than)	(the) most famous
common	more common (than)	(the) most common
anxious	more anxious (than)	(the) most anxious

• With all other 2-syllable words
• comparative: more + word
  
• superlative: most + word

Excemptions

Remember the following

word	comparative	superlative
good	better (than)	(the) best
bad	worse (than)	(the) worst
much / many	more (than)	(the) most
little (weinig)	less (than)	(the) least
little (klein)	smaller (than)	(the) smallest
old (familieleden)	elder (than)	(the) eldest
late (laatste)	later (than)	(the) latest
far (letterlijk)	farther (than)	(the) farthest
far (figuurlijk / abstract)	further (than)	(the) furthest

Other ways to compare

Examples:

He is as tall as I am.

They were as glad as we were.

She is not as old as I am.

That team was not as good as we thought.

It became more and more difficult.

It started raining more and more.

• as ... as when things are the same

• not as ... as when things are different

• more and more to emphasise something becoming more

Other ways to compare

The more people fill in this form, the better it would be.

The sooner we get those results, the easier writing our essay is.

The longer we laeve it, the more expensive it is going to be.

• The + comparative ... the + comparative to show that as one thing changes, another thing changes as well.

I think I understand how to make comparisons.

Yes

Mostly. but I don't need any help.

Mostly, but I still would like some help.

Not at all and need some help.

Continue

In pairs / groups of three:
Continue working on exercises 3.1 - 3.3 on pages 63 & 64

Check the answers with the key in the back of your book.

Want to practice more with Reading and Use of English part 3?

Do the exercise on page 65 as well.