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COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES
When we want to compare two or more things, we use the comparative or superlative form. The comparative and superlative forms of an adjective have three forms as well as a few irregular forms. When we make a comparative or a superlative, the form changes as in the table below:
- er /- est one or two syllables - ier /- iest adjective ends in y more / most three syllables or more tall old narrow tight happy angry busy heavy fashionable important interesting ambitious Why not add more adjectives you know to the table?
Comparative structure
be + comparative adjective + than They are more fashionable than a lot of other clothes.
Superlative structure
be + the + superlative adjective I am the most ambitious person in my family.
Irregular comparative/superlative forms
There are a few irregular forms to remember: good - better - best bad - worse - worst
Grammar: comparatives and superlatives 1
There are a number of ways we can add more detail when making comparisons. One way is to add - er , - est , more , most , less or least before or after adjectives to form the comparative and superlative : Well, their trail shoes are probably going to be cheaper than ours. We can use a number of other phrases with the comparative and superlative, for example: be a bit (^) + comparative/superlative
be quite a bit can be going to be will be Finally, we can use another phrase which is only formed with the superlative: Yes, they were our third biggest competitor last year, right? Here, third is an ordinal number , which means it shows the position of something compared to something else. In this case, it shows the position of Speedrunners compared to other competitors. Take a look at the table to see how we use ordinal numbers with superlatives: the/our
superlative These shoes will be the most modern in the market. the/our + ordinal number ( first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth ... )
superlative They are our second most popular product.
Grammar: comparing and contrasting
At work you will often compare and contrast products and services. One way to do this is to use the comparative structure. In the video you heard several expressions to compare products. For example: Their shoes are going to be heavier than our shoes. This sentence contains a comparative adjective: heavier. When you want to compare the weight of two things, you can say A is heavier than B. It's important to add the than after the adjective. If two things have a similar weight, you could say A is as heavy as B. In this sentence you need to add as , and you use the base form of the adjective, heavy , not the comparative form. Remember with longer adjectives, for example comfortable , you add more to make the comparative form. For instance: This chair is more comfortable than that one. Another way is to use linking expressions such as but, even though, on the one hand, as well as and however.
W QUESTIONS
We ask people questions to find out for information or details, some of the W questions are: What? Why? When? Where? Who? How?
it's a good idea to + verb it's a bad idea to + verb When we think it is necessary to do or to avoid something: must + verb mustn't + verb necessary to + verb When we think it is important or morally right to do something: ought to + verb ought not to + verb important to + verb
Grammar: verbs + prepositions
A useful way to remember verb + preposition expressions is to make a table and write examples. for in at on wor k I work for a large company . I work in accounts. I worked at Mega Bank for two years after graduatin g. Working on improvi ng my English is something I aim to do this year. stud y I studied for a degree in marketin g. I studied marketing in Lond on. I studied at a university in the UK.
Grammar: questions with 'would'
You will notice that when people ask questions with would, they follow these structures: Would + subject + verb in the infinitive form
Would I work with lots of different clients? Would + subject + be + past participle Would I be based in just one office? Would + subject + be + verb + - ing Would you be supervising me? Would + subject + be + adjective Would it be acceptable to work from home sometimes?
Grammar: direct speech and reported speech
Sometimes, as part of our job, we have to report what others have said. This is especially important when we give feedback or explain problems. When we report what someone has said, we can use direct speech or reported speech. In reported speech there may be a change in the tenses, word order and pronouns compared with the original direct speech sentence. Direct speech: When we phone you , you make us wait for too long. Reported speech: A number of people said that when they phoned us , we had made them wait for too long. The following table shows the change in tenses: Direct speech Reported speech am / is / are was / were present simple past simple present continuous past continuous will would can could should should
Ann promised to help me finish the project. Ann promised that she would help me finish the project.
Grammar: modal verbs 4
From these activities, you will have noted we can use modal verbs like need , should , must , ought , can/could , had better and have to talk about courses of action. They are usually followed by the base form of the verb: subject + modal verb + base form. We should get reviews of hotels and airlines from our own clients. In questions, we change the word order to modal verb + subject + base form. Sally, can you make a note of those? The verbs need,ought and have are followed by to + base verb. We need to do more inspections. We ought to have a new automatic system. Need can also be followed by a noun or pronoun (or a quantifier, article or adjective before the noun). We need more people on the night shift.
Grammar: past tense
When we are in a review meeting, we look back on our performance. We are looking in the past. This means we often use the past simple. Verbs in the past tense have two forms: regular and irregular. For regular verbs, we add ed at the end of the present simple form, for example: watch – watched Irregular verbs have a number of different spellings. Also, be careful which past form of the verb to be you use: was or were. This table shows the positive, negative and question forms in the past tense. Notice how the verb stays in the present simple form in negative sentences and questions. The auxiliary verb (helping verb) did is the past form of do. Positive form Negative form Question form I You He She It We started I You He She It We didn't start Did I you he she it we start?
They They they I You He She It We They found
I
You He She It We They didn't find Did
I
you he she it we they find?
Grammar: 'going to' 1
In the meeting Sally gives a number of work objectives for the next six months. When we make plans, we use going to. This table shows how we create sentences and questions with going to. When speaking it is usual to use contractions ( I'm rather than I am ). Positive form Negative form Question form I' m going to work in HR. I 'm not going to work in HR. Am I going to work in HR? You/We/They' re going to work in HR. You/We/They' re not going to work in HR. Are you/we/they going to work in HR? He/She' s going to work in HR. He/She' s not going to work in HR. Is he/she going to work in HR?
In a product description we may need to explain what developments are happening now and also what will or could happen in the future.
Passive sentences in the present tense:
subject + am/is/are + past participle It is designed ...
Passive sentences in the future tense:
subject + will/going to + be + past participle It will be designed ...
Passive sentences in the conditional tense:
subject + can/could/might/may + be + past participle It can be designed ...
Grammar: 'going to' 1
In the video Faisal asked Karen to help him prepare his presentation. Since the presentation has not happened, they talk at times about actions in the future. They use going to when they refer to these future actions. This is because we use going to when we want to refer to a planned action in the future. To create a sentence with going to we use the verb to be. I am going to + verb. I am going to + verb You We They are He She It is For example: I am going to present at the conference. We are going to hire a new office assistant. She is going to write a report on the meeting.
Grammar: past perfect 2
From the previous activity, you'll have noticed that we use the past perfect tense to describe the action that happened first. It's common to use contractions in the past perfect, for example: I'd instead of I had hadn't instead of had not To form questions in the past perfect we change the order of the words. Notice the order of the words plane and hadn't in the following examples: The plane hadn't even taken off. Had the plane taken off? Had the plane not taken off? * *Note we don't start a question with hadn't.
Grammar: 'when' and 'while'
We use when and while to talk about two things that are happening at the same time. Usually we use while when there are two long actions. He was cooking dinner while she was watching television. Usually we use when if one action is long and the other is short. He was cooking dinner when the phone rang. We use when if there are two short actions. He opened the door when the phone rang. We use when if we talk about periods of our life. I learned accountancy when I studied in London.
Grammar: present continuous for future
arrangements
In his email, Diego talks about future arrangements which are close to now: We're starting work on the detailed plans for the launch tomorrow. This form is often called the present continuous. Here the form is used with a future meaning. Its form is:
Positive sentences in the present continuous
subject + be + -ing form we are launching he is coming
Negative sentences in the present continuous
We can also change the order of the sentences and put the result at the start of the sentence without a comma in between: We would have understood better if the presenters had given us more handouts.
