Lesson 11 – Step 3 – Comparing

Language Discovery

Look at the words in blue in the text in step 1. What do they have in common?

•  They compare things or people
• They are comparative adjectives

Look at the words in green in the text in step 1. What do they have in common?

• They compare actions (what things or people do) 
• They are comparative adverbs

General notions

An adjective describes a person, place, or a thing. We usually use adjectives with the verb be.

• The horse is quick. It is beautiful.

An adverb describes an action. We use them after verbs.

• The horse runs quickly. But it doesn’t jump very high.

Comparative Adjectives

Remember the structure of comparatives?  subject + be+ comparative adjective + than+ object If you go back to level 4 level 4 lesson 6 step 3, you can study the difference between short and long comparative adjectives.

To compare two people, places or things we use:

1. comparative adjectives (quicker, more expensive, more intelligent)

• This place is better than the last one.

2. less + adjective (less quick,less expensive, less intelligent). Less is the opposite of more.

• Our old neighbours were less distant than the new ones.

Nota para hispanohablantes less = menos Our old neighbours were less distant than the new ones. Nuestros antiguos vecinos eran menos distantes que los nuevos.

3. (not) as + adjective + as. (not as quick as, as expensive as, as intelligent as). as… as = the same

• It’s not as simple as that

Nota para hispanohablantes as… as= tan… cómo It’s not as simple as that. No es tan simple como eso.

Comparative Adverbs

The horse runs quickly

My friend speaks slowly

They work hard

To compare two actions we use:

1. comparative adverbs
   • add more to adverbs that end in -ly (more quickly, more intelligently)
   • add -er to the other adverbs (faster, better). 

My friend plays football better than me, but I play more intelligently.

2. less + adverb (less quickly,less intelligently)

My friend plays football less intelligengly than me.

3. (not) as + adverb + as. (not as quickly as, as intelligently as)

My friend runs as fast as me.