Session 5

Learning outcome:
 Feedback on Progress Test 1
 Adjectives and Adverbs
 Pet Writing workshop Part 1
 Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives are single words (exciting, new) and compounds (hard-working, well-
organized) that modify nouns. We can use them before nouns or after linking verbs such
as be and seem.

 The new teacher has exciting ideas.

 She is hard-working and her classes seem well-organized.

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and sentences.

 The man spoke quietly.

 It´s a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.
 Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.
 Fortunately nothing was stolen.
 Adjectives and Adverbs
We form many adverbs from an adjective + -ly. For example: politely, quickly, safely.

But there are some special spelling rules:

1. We do not leave out e, e.g. nice → nicely

Exceptions are true → truly, whole → wholly.

2. –y → -ily after a consonant, e.g. easy → easily, lucky → luckily

Also angrily, happily, heavily, etc

3.- -le → -ly, e.g. possible → possibly

Also comfortably, probably, reasonably, sensibly, terribly, etc.

4.- -ic → -ically, e.g. dramatic → dramatically

Also automatically, scientifically, etc. (Exception: publicly)
 Adjectives and Adverbs
Not all words ending in –ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in –ly too, for example:
friendly, lively, elderly, lonely, silly, ugly, lovely.

• Melanie was very friendly.

• It was a lively party.
• We had a lovely time.

These words are adjectives not adverbs (NOT she spoke to us friendly). And we cannot
add –ly. There is no such word as friendlily. But we can say in a friendly way/manner.

• She spoke to us in a friendly way.

If we need to use an adverb, we often choose another word of similar meaning.

• It was lovely. Everything went beautifully.
 Adjectives and Adverbs
ADJECTIVE ADVERB
We did some hard work. We worked hard.
I came on the fast train. The train went quite fast.
I was late. I got up late this morning.
We can use these words both as adjectives and as adverbs: early, fast, hard, late, long,
high, near, straight,etc.

There are some pairs of adverbs like hard and hardly which have different meaning.
 I tried hard, but I didn´t succed.
 I´ve got hardly any money left. (hardly any= very little, almost none)
 Luckily I found a phone box quite near./ I nearly fell asleep in the meeting. (nearly=almost)
 Rachel arrived late, as usual. I´ve been very busy lately. (lately= in the last few
days/weeks)
 The plane flew high above the clouds. The material is highly radioactive. (highly=very)
 We´ve got into the concert free. (without paying)
The animals are allowed to wander freely. (freely= uncontrolled)
 Adjectives and Adverbs
Good is an adjective, and well is its adverb. The opposites are bad and badly.

Adjective Adverb
Natasha is a good violinist. She plays the violin very well.
Our test results were good. We all did well in the test.
I had a bad night. I slept badly last night.

Well can also be an adjective meaning “in good health”, the opposite of ill.

• My mother was very ill, but she´s quite well again now.
• How are you? Very well, thank you.
 Adjectives and Adverbs (Page32)
My younger brother is a reckless driver. He drives quite fast. Therefore, everybody says he´s a very bad driver.

• An adjective tells you about a noun.

• An adverb tells you about a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
• Adverbs of manner usually come after the verb.

Adjective Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective Adverb

Happy Happily Dramatic Dramatically Gentle Gently
Favorable Favorably Scientific Scientifically Late Late
Soft Softly Abrupt Abruptly Hard Hard
Quick Quickly Easy Easily Sad Sadly
Angry Angrily Patient Patiently Careful Carefully
Slow Slowly Polite Politely Good Well
Nice Nicely Bad Badly Fast Fast
Quiet quietly Beautiful Beautifully Clear Clear
 Adjective Order
Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together:
• My brother lives in a nice new house.
• In the kitchen there was a beautiful large round wooden table.

Adjectives like new/large/round/wooden are fact adjectives. They give us factual

information about age, size, color, etc.

Adjectives like nice/beautiful are opinion adjectives. They tell us what somebody
thinks of something or somebody.

Opinion adjectives usually go before fact adjectives.

opinion fact
a nice long summer holiday
an interesting young man
a beautiful large round wooden table
 Adjective Adverb
When more than one adjective comes before a noun, the adjectives are normally in a
particular order. The most usual sequence of adjective is:

Order Relating to examples

1 General opinion (we can use these adjective to Lovely, important, beautiful
describe almost any noun)
2 Specific opinion (we use these adjective to Food: delicious, tasty
describe particular kinds of noun) Furniture: comfortable
People: clever, intelligent
3 Size Big, small, tall
4 Shape Round square, rectangular
5 Age Young, old, youthful
6 Colour Blue, red, pink
7 Origin Dutch, Japanese, Turkish
8 Material Metal, wood, plastic
9 Purpose Cleaning, cooking
Write a list of things to be sold
at an auction.

1.- a lovely old glass vase

1.- vase/glass, old, lovely
2.- mirror/wall, attractive
3.- desk/modern, office
4.- chairs/kitchen, red, metal
5.- boat/model, splendid, old
6.- table/small, coffee, wooden

Answers:
1.- a lovely old glass vase
2.- an attractive wall mirror
3.- a modern office desk
4.- red metal kitchen chairs
5.- a splendid old model boat
6.- a small wooden coffee table
 Comparative and Superlative
Adjectives
Every adjective has its three degrees.

1.- She likes writing long fiction stories . Positive Adjective

2.- Listening to soft music makes me feel more relaxed than listening to hard rock. Comparative Adjective
3.- Einstein was the most intelligent scientist in the world. .Superlative Adjective

Positive Comparative Superlative

Happy Happier The happiest
Long Longer the longest
Bad Worse The Worst
Horrible More horrible The most horrible
 Comparative Adjectives
Comparative adjectives compare one person or thing with another and enable us to say whether a person or
thing has more or less of a particular quality:
How shall we travel? Shall we drive or go by train?
Let´s drive. It´s cheaper.
Don´t go by train. It´s more expensive.

After comparatives you can use than:

 It´s cheaper to drive than go by train.
 Going by train is more expensive than driving.

A few adjectives and adverbs have irregular comparative forms:

Good/Well → better
• The garden looks better since you tidied it up.
• I know him well - probably better than anybody else knows him.
Bad/badly → worse
• “How´s your headache? Better?” “No, It´s worse”
• He did very badly in the exam – worse than expected.
Far → further (or farther)
• It´s a long walk from here to the park – further than I thought. (or farther than)
 Superlatives adjectives
Superlative adjectives describe one person or thing as having more of a quality than
all other people or things in a group.
• What is the longest river in the world?
• What was the most enjoyable holiday you´ve ever had?

The superlative form is –est or most… . In general, we use –est for short words and
most… for longer words. We normally use the before a superlative (the longest/the
most famous, etc.):
• Yesterday was the hottest day of the year.
• The movie was really boring. It´s the most boring movie I´ve ever seen.
• She is a really nice person – one of the nicest people I know.
• Why does he always come to see me at the worst possible time

A few adjectives are irregular:

good → best bad → worst far → furthest/farthest

 Superlatives adjectives
Oldest and eldest

The superlative of old is oldest:

• That church is the oldest building in the town. (not the eldest)

We use eldest (or oldest) when we are talking about people in a family.
• My eldest son is 13 years old. (or My oldest son)
• Are you the eldest in your family? (or the oldest)

After superlatives we normally use in with places.

• What´s the longest river in the world? (not of the world)
• We had a nice room. It was one of the best in the hotel. (not the hotel)

We also use in for organizations and groups of people (a class/ acompany, etc.):
• Who is the youngest student in the class? (not of the class)

For a period of time, we normally use of:

• Yesterday was the hottest day of the year.
• What was the happiest day of your life?
 Comparative and Superlatives Adjectives
Positive Comparative Superlative

We add –er (Comparative) or • Long • _______________ • _______________

–est (superlative) to most short
adjectives (one syllable): • Cheap • _______________ • _______________
• Small • _______________ • _______________

For one syllable adjectives with • Wet • ____________ • _______________

one vowel + one consonant, we
double the final consonant and • Big • ____________ • ______________
add –er (Comparative) or – est • Thin • ____________ • ______________
(Superlative).

For two syllable adjectives • Funny • ____________ • ______________

ending in –y, we change y to i • Happy • ___________ • _____________
and take the –er (Comparative) • Busy • ____________ • ______________
or –est (Superlative) ending.

We use more (Comparative) or • Modern • ______________ • _____________

the most (Superlative) for • Intelligent • _____________ • _____________
longer adjectives (two syllables • Popular • ______________ • ______________
or more):

Irregular • Good • _______________ • ____________

• Bad • ____________ • ___________
• Far • _____________ • ____________
 Comparative and Superlatives Adjectives
Positive Comparative Superlative

We add –er (Comparative) or • Long • Longer than • The longest

–est (superlative) to most short
adjectives (one syllable): • Cheap • Cheaper than • The cheapest
• Small • Smaller than • The smallest

For one syllable adjectives with • Wet • Wetter than • The wettest
one vowel + one consonant, we
double the final consonant and • Big • Bigger than • The biggest
add –er (Comparative) or – est • Thin • Thinner than • The thinnest
(Superlative).

For two syllable adjectives • Funny • Funnier than • The funniest

ending in –y, we change y to i • Happy • Happier than • The happiest
and take the –er (Comparative) • Busy • Busier than • The busiest
or –est (Superlative) ending.

We use more (Comparative) or • Modern • More modern than • The most modern
the most (Superlative) for • Intelligent • More intelligent than • The most intelligent
longer adjectives (two syllables • Popular • More popular than • The most popular
or more):

Irregular • Good • Better than • The best

• Bad • Worse than • The worst
• Far • Farther/Further • The farthest/The furthest
 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Complete these sentences with the corresponding
adjective form.
1.- the best
1.- A piano is probably _______ (good) instrument of all
for learning music. 2.- more popular than
2.- Football is __________ (popular) volleyball.
3.- more exciting than
3.- I think baseball is __________ (exciting) golf.
4.- I´m not very ___________ (interested) in science fiction 4.- interested/the
films. I think science fiction films are _______ (boring)
most boring
among all the types of movies.
5.- I like living in the country. It´s _________ (relaxing) the 5.- more relaxing than
city.
6.- easy
6.- Surfing wasn´t as ___________ (easy) as I imagined.
 Comparative Adjectives
Before comparatives we can use:

much A lot Far A bit A little Slightly

(=a lot) (= a little)

We can strenghten or emphasise a comparative adjective using words such as much, a

lot or far.
• Let´s go by car. It´s much cheaper. (or a lot cheaper)
• “How do you feel now?” “Much better, thanks.”
• Don´t go by train. It´s a lot more expensive. (or much more expensive)
• Her illness was far more serious than we thought at first. (or much more serious/a lot
more serious)

We can soften a comparative adjective using a bit, a little or slightly .

• Could you speak a bit more slowly? ( or a little more slowly)
• This bag is slightly heavier than the other one.
 Comparative Adjectives
The … the …
Double comparatives, it is used to describe how one thing increases or decreases in relation to another.

Structure: the + comparative adjective + clause + the + comparative adjective + clause

• The more adventurous it is, the more I like it.

• The more he reads, the less he understands.
• The older we grow, the wiser we become.
• The higher you climb, the colder it gets.
• The less you spend, the more you save.
• The sooner they go, the better it is.
• The warmer the weather, the better I feel.
• The sooner we leave, the earlier we will arrive.
• The younger you are, the easier it is to learn.
• The more expensive the hotel, the better the service.
• The more electricity you use, the higher your bill will be.
• The more I thought about the plan, the less I liked it.
 Comparative Adjectives
As…as
We use as + adjective/adverb + as to make comparisons when the things we are comparing are
equal in some way:
• The weather this summer is as bad as last year. It hasn’t stopped raining for weeks.
• You have to unwrap it as carefully as you can. It’s quite fragile.

Not as …as
We use not as … as to make comparisons between things which aren’t equal:
• Rory isn´t as tall as Tommy.
• She’s not singing as loudly as she can.
• They didn’t play as well as they usually do.

Less… than is similar to not as …as:

• I spent less money than you . (= I didn´t spend as much money as you)
• The city centre was less crowded than usual. (= it wasn´t as crowded as usual)
• I play tennis less than I used to. (= I don´t play as much as I used to)
PET WRITING WORKSHOP
PART 1
 Task Type:

Rewriting sentences

 Task Format:

 You should write between one and

three words to fill the gap.
 The second sentence must mean
the same as the first sentence.
 You should spell correctly (no
marks will be given if a word is
misspelled)
 PET WRITING WORKSHOP
PART 1
E.g.
A.- Paul is too weak to open the classroom window.
strong enough
 Paul isn´t ___________to open the classroom window.

B.- He has never performed so highly in a play as he did in this

one.
 This ___________performance
is the highest he has had in a play.