COMPARISON
ADJECTIVES
There are 3 degrees of comparison:
POSITIVE
COMPARATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
a/ one – syllable adjectives and two - syllable adjectives ending in –y are compared by means of:
-er
the –est
old
older
the oldest
big
bigger
the biggest
late
later
the latest
happy
happier
the happiest
- with a few two – syllable adjectives both ways of comparison are possible:
These are ending in –er, -ow, -le
e.g. clever - cleverer
- the cleverest
- more clever - the most clever
yellow, gentle…
- extra skupina: more – the most
COMMON, QUIET, HANDSOME, POLITE, PLEASANT, WICKED, STUPID, CRUEL, TIRED
- irregular: good – better – the best
bad - worse – the worst
late - later - the latest (nejnovější)
- latter - the last (poslední)
- the former – the latter: John and Frank are students. The former is getting on well, the latter
wants drop out.
- His latest book is better than his last book.
- FAR - farther – the farthest
- further – the furthest
=> both refer to the distance : It´s farther / further from here.
=> the system of further education
=> I can´t give you any further information = extra or additional
OLD – older – the oldest
- elder – the eldest + son, daughter, brother, sister … členové rodiny – my elder / older
sister
LITTLE – less / lesser – the least : The Lesser Town, The Lesser Bear, the lesser of the two
evils
(menší zlo)
b/ two and more – syllable words:
modern
- more / less modern - the most / least modern
interesting - more / less interesting- the most / least interesting
ADVERBS
1/ How to form them?
a/ ADJECTIVE + LY = ADVERB
slow
+ ly = slowly
b/ adjective = adverb
fast
= fast ( back, early, far, long, straight)
hard
= hard( hardly- sotva, stěží)
adjective
hard
This is hard work.
deep
a deep pond
direct
a direct way
directly.(okamžitě)
high
a high mountain
late
a late train
low
a low building
near
a near town
right
short
adverb
x
He works hard.
deep in my heart
You can dial direct.
I can hardly understand. (stěží)
deeply hurt (hluboce)
Call the doctor
high in the mountains
late in the evening
to hang low
near here
It´s s highly interesting. = very
I haven´t seen him lately.
lowly paid = mizerně, špatně
it´s nearly twelve= téměř,skoro
rightly punished ( spravedlivě)
shortly after dark = soon
cut it short (zkrať to)
c/ adjective
friendly
interesting
adverb
in a friendly way
in an interesting way
2/ How to compare them?
a/ slowly
more slowly
(the) most slowly
b/ fast
faster
(the) fastest
hard
harder
(the) hardest
c/ in a friendly way
in a more friendly way
in the most friendly way
in an interesting way in an more interesting way in the most interesting way
e.g. He laughs best who laughs last( není člen). The machine runs most quietly at 6,000 revolutions
per minute. He went furthest of all saying we were idiots. The longest I can stay is 3 hours. The
Mousetrap is the longest running play.
- irregular comparatives:well – better – best
badly- worse – worst
little – less – least
- talking about similar things:He drives like his father.
He drives just like his father.
Drive as fast as you can.
Living in the country is as expensive as living in a town.
Living in the country is not as expensive as living in a town.
I´ve never been to such a good party as this one.
- talking about differences:I´m older than he is. (formal)
I´m older than him. ( informal)
He drives better than he does (F) / him (I).
This is much more / a lot more / far more / rather more / a little more
/a bit more expensive.
- continuous change:He´s getting fatter and fatter.
Are you any happier now?
The – the :the more, the better
the faster you drive, the more petrol you will use
Far ( C+ U) - far / much more water ( U)
-far / many more water (C)
- superlative:She´s the most sensible of them all / in the class.
She´s by far the most sensible girl.
X
That was most kind of you. = very
That was a most interesting talk. = very / highly
Most people don´t agree. = většina
- just – more just
shy – shyer
dry – drier
a kind harted woman – a kinder harted woman
hard working – more hard working
TRANSLATION:
1. Speak more loudly, please.
2. This time you´ve made much fewer mistake.
3. Any further / other discussion would be useless.
4. His oldest son is at school, the others are still at home.
5. You seem to be angry. / You look angry.
6. He earns less than she does.
7. She welcomed us in a friendly way.
8. She can´t type as fast as I can.
9. It took longer than I expected.
10. He swims like a fish.
11. Could you speak a little more quietly?
12. You shouldn´t drink as much as that.
13. It was by far the worst performance of the play.
14. The earlier you set off the sooner you´ll be back.
15. They want us to do more work for much less money.
16. He was badly injured in the last match.
17. Roses smell sweet.
18. The farthest I can walk is 10 kms.
19. The more dangerous it is, the more he likes it.
20. It sounds good.