English A2 · Comparatives and superlatives
إنجليزي A2 الموضوع 6 4:25 سرد باللغة الإنجليزية · ترجمة مدمجة بالإنجليزية + الصينية
فصول
النص الصوتي
Chinese compares with bi: wo bi wo gege gao. English changes the adjective itself: taller than. And for the winner of the whole group, the superlative: the tallest. The memory hook: the comparative is a fight between two; the superlative is a trophy ceremony. And good, better, best is the only ladder where every step is proud of itself.
Short adjectives add er: taller, faster. Adjectives ending in y dance to ier: happier, easier. Short vowel plus consonant panics and doubles: bigger, hotter, the same panic as running and stopped. And long adjectives stay calm and take more: more beautiful, more expensive. Then the fight needs its opponent: taller than my brother. And never more taller: one referee per fight.
Pause and choose. My bag is heavier than yours. The y dances to ier, and the referee word is than. More heavy hired a second referee for a one-syllable fight, heavyer skipped the dance, and heavier as sent the wrong referee onto the field.
The superlative is the trophy ceremony. Short adjectives take the plus est: the tallest, the fastest. Y dances to iest: the happiest. Long adjectives take the most: the most beautiful. And the rebels keep their own ladder: good, better, the best; bad, worse, the worst; far, further, the furthest. Two rules never sleep: the superlative always wears the, and the group follows with in or of: the tallest in the class, the best student of the year.
Pause and choose. He is the tallest boy in the class. A short adjective takes the plus est, and the ceremony is not optional: tallest without the is a trophy left in the box. The most tall dressed a short word in a long word's clothes, and more tall is a comparative at the wrong ceremony.
Comparatives have a volume dial. Stronger: much taller, far better; this test was much worse. Softer: a little older, a bit cheaper; my phone is a bit slower. And a firm rule: very cannot touch a comparative. Very taller is wrong; very is for plain adjectives only, very tall, while the comparative plays in a different weight class with much.
Pause and choose. Much better. Much turns the dial up on a comparative. Very belongs to plain adjectives, more would double-mark the comparison, and most is the trophy word at a two-thing fight.
Because bi already means comparison, the double-mark sneaks in: more taller than. English marks once: taller than. One referee. Two more guards: than is not optional, never I am taller my brother; and the is not optional either, always the tallest. And the order flips: wo bi gege gao becomes I am taller than my brother. The comparison moves to the end, and the meaning survives the journey.
Compare your life, honestly. My phone is older than yours, and slower, and somehow more expensive to repair. Crown a day: Monday is the longest day of the week; science cannot prove it, but everyone knows. And defend a truth: the best noodles in this city are near the school. That is not an opinion. That is a superlative.
Pause for four checks. My bag is heavier than yours: the y dance, then than. The most beautiful: a long adjective at the trophy ceremony. Faster, never more faster: one referee. And this test was worse than the last one: the rebel ladder, bad, worse, worst. Next topic: articles, the three smallest words with the largest rulebook.