Podcast 50 - B2 Modifiers with comparatives and superlatives

Revising the comparatives

Story starts at 10:49

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of practicing English. And today, I'm going to talk to you about words that we use with comparatives and superlatives to make them a little more precise. Now we can call these words modifiers.

But first of all, let's just briefly revise some of those comparisons. For example, if something or somebody is tall, somebody else could be taller, so on those adjectives we add 'er' - when they are one syllable. And then if they are three syllables, for example, well, we can compare two beautiful women. And we can say one is more beautiful than the other. And then there are some adjectives which are two syllables. And they can take 'er', or the more comparative, so we can say, for example, that somebody is clever, and somebody else is cleverer. But on the other hand, we can say somebody is a boring person but there could be somebody else who is more boring. And then we have those adjectives that end in 'y'. And what do we do? Well, then we change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'er'. So a funny person and a funnier person, an easy exercise and easier exercise. And with the superlatives, it's similar, isn't it?

Modifiers with comparatives and superlatives

But this lesson isn't about that. It's about words which go with those comparatives so that we can add more precision to what we mean. So the words that we're using are words like not quite, slightly, almost, easily, a good deal, far... So some of these words say there is a big difference between two or more things, and these words are:

easily, a good deal, far*, by far*, much = a very big difference

More or less, they mean the same thing. Then other words say there is a small difference between two or more things, and these words are:

slightly, almost as... as, not quite as... as, a little = a very small difference

More or less, they mean the same thing too. I don't think they make much sense on their own. So I'm going to put them together. And it will be clearer then what I'm trying to explain to you, in fact, it will be far clearer. It'll be far clearer once I put this into context. And to do that, I'm going to compare three animals. One is a snail. And do I have to explain what a snail is? Well, it's a gastropod or a mollusc. It's a small mollusc. It's a little smaller than a golf ball. And it's got a hard shell and it's got a very soft body. And it has two antennae, which have eyes on the end, and we eat these snails. Well, they eat them in some countries - they eat them in Spain, and they eat them in France as well. Well, those are the two countries where I've eaten snails, I imagine they eat them in other countries too. So that's a snail, I hope you know what it is!

A snail is far smaller than a tiger.

And the other two animals are completely different. They are not molluscs. They are mammals, and they are a lion and a tiger. Now, the reason why I've chosen a lion and a tiger is because I thought that a tiger was just slightly larger than a lion. Or in other words, that a lion was not quite as large or not quite as big as a tiger. Or perhaps I could say, a lion is almost as large as a tiger. In fact, actually, I did a little research, and I found out that a tiger, a male tiger, a male Bengal tiger, can actually weigh 350 kilograms. And a large African male lion weighs about 250 kilograms. So there is really I suppose, a good deal of difference, a good deal of difference between the size of a tiger and a lion. But for argument's sake, that means, so that I have an argument, so that I can explain this vocabulary, I'm going to say that a tiger is slightly larger than a lion. So we can say then that obviously, a tiger is far bigger* than a snail.

And we could also say that, as lions live in Africa, that lions are by far* the biggest wild cats in Africa. And a tiger is by far the biggest wild cat in India. Of course, lions and tigers never see each other - as far as I know, because at school, I was taught that tigers live in India, and lions live in Africa.

Then we could say other things as well, we could say that a tiger and a lion are far more dangerous than a snail. I mean, first of all, that makes sense, doesn't it? You think of a snail - you think of a tiger. But actually, I was doing some more research. And I found that there [is] a family of snails that live in the tropics [they are sea snails], called cone snails. And they are incredibly dangerous. Why? Because they are poisonous, they are venomous, and they have a needle, a sharp thing that comes out from their body, and it injects poison into its victim's body, and they can actually kill a human being. So snails can be pretty dangerous as well. But not in the same way of course.

Such, so and too

Now, listen to how I use these words, which are such and so. We could say about the tiger, that when the tiger walks through the jungle, it is such a dangerous animal that all the others [other animals] run from it. Or we could say that the tiger is so dangerous that all animals run away from it. It is,

so + adjective

The tiger is so dangerous that... or,

such + a noun phrase

something like such a dangerous animal that.... Those are rather confusing, aren't they - those two words such and so.

And then we can use another interesting word, which is too. And when we use too, it always means a problem. So we could say about the tiger that it's far too risky to go out at night in the Indian jungle, when there are tigers around [that's the problem!]. it is far too risky to go out at night. So the structure there is

(far) + too + adjective

And then notice the verb in the infinitive afterwards with to,

It is far too risky to go out at night in the Indian jungle, when there are tigers around.

Okay, well, now I'm going to tell you a story. And in the story, I'm going to include some of the modifiers and comparatives that I've used just now. And I would like you to listen out for them. If you're sitting comfortably at home, you can take out a pen and paper and write them down. Or you can just sort of mentalise [think of] the words if you're driving along in your car, for example. I don't recommend you start writing things down if you're driving your car, it is far too dangerous. And sitting in your armchair is a lot less** dangerous than driving a car when you're studying English - especially a lot less dangerous.

*Note that far is used with comparatives and by far with superlatives.
**Less is only used in front of the adjective or adverb. Notice we can use it in front of adjectives of any number of syllables: less dangerous, less happy, less tall. However, with one syllable adjectives, we often prefer shorter rather than less tall, smaller rather than less big.

Examples of these modifiers in a story - Cheapo Airways

Old passenger plane

Okay, so here's the story then. And it's about an airline called Cheapo Airways. And of course, Cheapo Airways was a low cost airline. In fact, it was easily the cheapest airline in the whole of the UK. All the other fares - the airline tickets were far more expensive. And so, Cheapo Airways was easily the cheapest and most economical airline because of its cheap tickets.

Now, one day, Mr. Jones wanted to fly from London to Stockholm. And so he went to Heathrow Airport. And, oh, I didn't mention, he had already bought a ticket online from Cheapo Airways. And he was quite excited about his short holiday that he was going to take in Stockholm, in Sweden.

And when he got to the airport, he went to the check-in desk. And then he went through the customs and got on the plane that was waiting for him and the other passengers on the tarmac. And he waited and waited, but nothing happened. The flight didn't take off.

And then suddenly, the door of the cockpit opened and the captain came out. He was very upset, obviously. And he shouted out to the passengers or to anybody who could hear him. He said,

"I'm not flying this airplane. This aeroplane has got an engine which has broken down and they won't buy a new one. It’s far too risky to take up an aeroplane which has only got one engine which is functioning properly. This airline is a good deal worse than any other airline I have worked for. No, I'd say more than that - it is easily the worst airline I have ever worked for."

And with that the captain ran out of the aeroplane, ran across the tarmac and disappeared into the airport building.

The passengers didn't know what to think. Then an air hostess spoke to them. She said,

"Passengers, if you would like to disembark for a short time while we sought out this problem. I'm afraid the flight cannot leave at the moment. But we will be leaving shortly."

So all the passengers got off the plane, and they waited on the tarmac. In fact, a few hours went by and Mr. Jones was rather impatient and very fed up. He thought it was such a waste of time. To think that he should be enjoying himself in Stockholm on holiday instead of waiting here at Heathrow Airport. He was so annoyed. He decided never to use Cheapo Airways ever again. But eventually, the air hostess came up to the passengers once more. And she said with a smile on her face,

"Please, everybody can get back on board now. We'll be leaving for Stockholm in 10 minutes."

Mr. Jones raised his hand and he said,

"Excuse me? Have you got a new engine?"

"Oh no," said the air hostess. "We've got a new captain, and he's far nicer than the one before."