This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
Nexus resource
Medieval towns
Comparing past and present
Subject:
Age groups:
Topic:
History
8 – 11, 12 - 14
Middle ages
Licence information | This resource is free to use for educational purposes. ©British Council 2014
Source | This resource was originally developed by Samira Moradi and has been adapted by EAL
Nexus.
Medieval town and modern city
2
Comparing medieval towns with modern cities
Choose whether the words and phrases in the box are describing things
you would see in a medieval town, a modern city in Britain or both.
no running water
busy roads
horses and carts
blocks of flats
a church
people selling things
cars
big shops
animals walking around
muddy roads
half-timbered houses
people growing food
sewage in the streets
lots of cars
buses
smoking chimneys
toilets and bathrooms
lots of people
market
noisy
Write the words and phrases from the box above in the Venn diagram:
Medieval town
Modern British city
Both
3
Using comparative adjectives
Complete the table by filling in the gaps:
Adjective
Comparative adjective
Some comparatives are formed by adding –er to an adjective. If the
adjective ends in y you need to change the y to an i before adding the
–er. For example silly becomes sillier.
clean
cleaner
dark
smellier
noisy
smokier
hard
Some comparatives are formed by using ‘more’ + an adjective
modern
beautiful
dangerous
difficult
powerful
4
more modern
Using comparative adjectives: answers
Complete the table by filling in the gaps:
Adjective
Comparative adjective
Some comparatives are formed by adding –er to an adjective. If the
adjective ends in y you need to change the y to an i before adding the
–er. For example silly becomes sillier.
clean
cleaner
dark
darker
smelly
smellier
noisy
noisier
smoky
smokier
hard
harder
Some comparatives are formed by using ‘more’ + an adjective
5
modern
more modern
beautiful
more beautiful
dangerous
more dangerous
difficult
more difficult
powerful
more powerful
Write some sentences using the comparative adjectives from
the table:
1. Medieval towns are ___________________ than modern cities.
2. Medieval towns are ___________________ than modern cities.
3. Modern cities are ______________________________________.
4. Modern cities are _______________________________________.
Write some sentences about things that are the same in
modern cities as in medieval towns:
1. Medieval towns and modern cities both have ____________________
________________________________________________________.
2. Medieval towns and modern cities both ________________________
_______________________________________________________ .
Use the substitution table to say something about 2 differences
between medieval towns and modern British cities.
Medieval towns have
Modern cities
had
in Britain
6
sewage in the street
cars and buses
smoking chimneys
lots of big shops
animals in the street
but
modern cities
medieval towns
don’t.
didn’t.