I. COMPARING AND CONTRASTING Comparative and superlative adjectives are formed by ð adding –er resp. –est to one-syllable adjectives HIGH HIGHER THE HIGHEST BIG BIGGER THE BIGGEST ð adding –ier resp. –iest to adjectives ending in –y WEALTHY WEALTHIER THE WEALTHIEST EASY EASIER THE EASEST ð adding more / less resp. the most / the least to adjectives of two or more syllables MORE / LESS IMPORTANT THE MOST / THE LEAST IMPORTANT MORE / LESS INTERESTING THE MOST / THE LEAST INTERESTING ð there are irregular comparatives and superlatives: good better best bad worse worst far farther farthest further furthest ð to say that a person, thing, action is similar (or not) to another in some way we use as ... as or not as ... as or not so ... as. She is as tall as her father. The van was as big as a house. I came as soon as possible. Write as fast as you can. ð to say that a person, thing, action has more or less of a quality than another we say He’s slower than a snail. Some ideas are less practical than others. ð to say that people or things and actions have the most or least of a quality we say He’s the most likely to succeed. She’s one of the cleverest students. Alan is the youngest student in the class. He is the best player in the world. ð to express the progressive link between actions and their results we say The harder I try, the less I succeed. The sooner we leave, the faster we’ll get there. ð to modify comparatives resp. superlatives we say It’s much / far / a lot / a little colder today than it was yesterday. Houses are much / far / a lot more expensive these days. This is quite / by far the most expensive bicycle in the shop. II. ADJECTIVES ENDING IN – ED AND – ING I found her comments quite surprising. I was surprised by her comments. Ø adjectives ending in – ing describe something we are reacting to o OUTSIDE US – what something does to us Ø adjectives ending in – ed describe our feelings and reactions o INSIDE US – how we feel Form the adverb from the following adjectives: quick quickly nice nicely we do not leave out - e true truly an exception whole wholly an exception easy easily y -> ily after a consonant happy happily possible possibly le -> ly sensible sensibly automatic automatically ic -> ically public publicly an exception fast fast hard hard high high friendly in a friendly way lovely in a lovely way good well III. ADVERBS ARE FORMED: Ø Generally by adding – ly to an adjective Careful -> carefullly Ø sometimes by adding – y, - ally, -ily Full -> fully; dramatic -> dramatically; steady -> steadily Ø Some have the same form as adjectives or are irregular Fast, hard, early, late, high, low, right, wrong, well Ø Some by using in a … way In a friendly way, in a lovely way etc.