 |
|
|
Extension Exercises
Index
| Chapter 6 - Comparatives and superlatives | Possible
Answers
How learners use
English
Read the following
very quickly and use a pen to circle which of the three words (correct;
dubious; incorrect) best describes your immediate reaction to the underlined
part of the sentence. Try not to look back at your answers to previous
items as you go through it
| I |
He's
the more important person of all. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| II |
He
runs quicker than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| III |
He
runs faster than I. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| IV |
He's
more old than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| V |
He's
pleasanter than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| VI |
He
runs faster than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| VII |
He's
more pleasant than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| VIII |
He's
older than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| IX |
He's
the more important person. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| X |
He
runs faster than me. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| XI |
He's
the most important person. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| XII |
She's
the most quick off the mark. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
| XIII |
She's
the most important person of the team. |
Correct |
Dubious |
Incorrect |
- Study your responses
to this questionnaire, and try to give reasons for any sentences that
you have classified as dubious or incorrect.
- Ask two or three
very competent users of English to complete the same questionnaire or
one that you devise to focus on points of particular interest to you.
Compare their responses with your own and with each others. Is there
any disagreement? How can you account for this?
Exploring English
EITHER:
Ask two or three very
competent speakers of English briefly to compare two or more objects,
people, institutions or ideas. Record them doing so and subsequently transcribe
any relevant sections of the recordings. Do not tell them the reason for
this experiment.
OR:
Find a written text
which is making a comparison (for example, comparing two or more products
in terms of value to the consumer, comparing two recordings of the same
piece of music, comparing two towns, comparing a place or life in a place
before and after significant changes).
- How much use do
they make of comparative and superlative forms?
- What proportion
of comparative forms are followed by than ...?
- What proportion
of superlative forms are followed by in ... or by a relative clause?
- Do they make any
use of 'non-standard' expressions (more bigger; more big)
- How clearly do
they pronounce the sounds which are normally 'weak' (for example, er;
than) or are often left out (for example, the final /t/ in est).
Course materials
Study two coursebooks,
if possible from the same series.
- At what levels
(for example, elementary; upper intermediate) is attention paid explicitly
to different formal aspects of comparative and superlative forms of
quantifiers, adjectives and adverbs (such as the use of ...er and ....est
as opposed to more and most)?
- How accurate and
comprehensive is this information?
- How much attention
is paid to the meanings of these forms?
- How accurate and
comprehensive is this information?
- How much attention
is paid to relevant aspects of spelling? At what levels?
- How much attention
is paid to relevant aspects of pronunciation? At what levels?
- How much attention
is paid to ways of intensifying and qualifying these expressions? At
what levels?
- How much opportunity
is provided for looking at how these forms are used in authentic texts
or transcriptions of spoken English?
- How much opportunity
is provided for practice of these forms? How controlled is this practice?
How natural is it?
Possible
answers
|
