miércoles, 17 de febrero de 2021

Comparatives and Superlatives

This is what I usually explain in class: the comparative/superlative form depends on the length (la longitud) of the adjective or the number of syllables; I hope you'll see this chart as useful as I tried to do it for you.

Comparing qualities

This is what you do when you compare 2 things or people; you use an adjective and you should have the comparative form according to the number of syllables of the adjective, but the general rule is that you shouldn't have more than 2 syllables after adding the particle. Keep in mind that the adverbs are a bit different when they end in -LY. As a reminder (recordatorio)  an adjective is a characteristic of something or someone (with nouns) and an adverb is a characteristic of an action (with verbs)

Look at this chart: 

1 syllable
2 syllables
3 or more syllables
You add -ER THAN

clean = cleaner than
big = bigger than yours
dry = drier than

Ending in -y = -IER THAN

easy = easier
friendly = friendlier
lovely = lovelier
You use MORE --- THAN

expensive = more expensive than
beautiful = more beautiful than

Exceptions:
more bored than
(boreder ???)
Ending in consonant = 
MORE --- THAN
careful = more careful than
boring = more boring than
Adverbs ending in -LY =
MORE --- THAN
easily = more easily than

The superlative form is very similar:

1 syllable
2 syllables
3 or more syllables
You add  THE  -EST

clean = the cleanest
big = the biggest
dry = the driest

Ending in -y = THE  -IEST 

easy = the easiest
friendly = the friendliest
lovely = the loveliest
You use THE MOST --- in ...

the most expensive car in the market
the most beautiful picture in the museum

Exceptions:
the most bored child 
Ending in consonant = 
THE MOST --- in the ...
careful = the most careful person
boring = the most boring film
Adverbs ending in -LY =
THE MOST --- in ...
easily = the most easily built

Apart from these, remember there are irregular comparatives and superlatives:

ADJECTIVE/ADVERB COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
good / well better (than) the best
bad / badly worse the worst
far farther / further the farthest / furthest
little (for quantities/qualities) less the least
much / many (plural)
(for quantities/qualities)
more the most

If you want to practise I really recommend doing comparisons orally. You can start with:
  • a dog, a cat and a canary
  • a Mercedes, a Fiat and a Ferrari
  • a car, a bicycle and a bus
  • a house, a flat and a caravan
Example: I prefer a dog because it's nicer than a cat but a cat is more independant. A canary is the dirtiest pet but it's the easiest to have in a flat. A dog needs more room and more care than a cat.

If you need more practice with exercises, you can do it if you visit these webpages:
To finish with, there is a comparison of equality and it's formed with  AS + adjective/adverb + AS like in the following examples:
  • My brother is as tall as my father
  • A caravan may be as confortable as a small flat
Hope it's clear and you can use it!

martes, 9 de febrero de 2021

Learning English with Songs

Everybody loves music and when you sing you feel better, don't you? But singing a song in another language can help you in many ways: improving vocabulary, fixing grammar structures and having better pronunciation. Apart from having fun!

But not everybody likes the same kind of music and maybe the songs you love are not the best for starting learning English. That's the reason why I've taken a selection based on the simplicity rather than kind of music. If you want to practise with a song, first try to find it with LYRICS (la letra) on the internet; then, try to choose ballads or slow music to be able to follow it as a karaoke, and finally try to sing it without looking at the lyrics. When you've done this, you'll see you've learnt new words, some structures and you'll be able to pronounce those words much better. 

So let's start with these simple ones and little by little you can add as many songs as you fancy to your own list.

Old classic ones

 Modern singers

If you practise listening skills with songs you can go to these links: 

lunes, 8 de febrero de 2021

Improving Your Skills

 If you want to improve your skills, this is a summary with good links to help you:

LISTENING

WRITING

READING
SPEAKING
  • Topics and typical phrases: click here
  • Prepare and record your speech using WhatsApp or any other device and listent ot it later.
  • Use Google oral messages or even MEET with subtitles: you say a message orally and the programme turns it into words; if you're not understood, you'll see the words are wrong so try it again until you see what you wanted to say. You can use an online dictionary to check the pronunciation of difficult words.

















Preparing final exams

 This entry is to help you with the final exams, especially for A2. But if you want, you can use it to practise with A1 as well. You can use...