Comparative and superlatives patterns

§  The comparative and than

§  The superlative

§  As.....as

§  Than me/than I am

»»»»» The comparative and than:

We often use a phrase with than after a comparitive.

This hall is nicer than the Town Hall.

I have a bigger house than you.

The steak is more expensive than the fish.

»»»» The superlative:

We usually use the before a superlative.

We will adopt the quickest method.

This is the most difficult problem.

Note the pattern with "one of ".

Dorris is one of the most famous dentists ever.

After a superlative we can use in or of. We use in with places and with groups of people, e.g. team.

It's the most expensive hotel in New Jesrsey.

Who is the best participant in the game?

This question is the most difficult of all.

We often use a clause after a superlative.

That was the most interesting story that I've ever heard.

Sarah is the nicest person you could meet.

»»»» As.......as

We use as.....as to say that things are equal or unequal.

Our car is as spacious as yours.

It's warmer today. It isn't as cold as yesterday.

In a negative sentence we can also use so...as, but this is less common than as....as.

This yacht isn't as big as/so big as our old one.

The result of the match was the same as last year.

We can't drive as swiftly as you do.

»»»» Than me/ than I am:

Both are correct, and have the same meaning:

You're ten years younger than me.

You're ten years younger than I am.

Peter isn't as tall as him.

Peter isn't as tall as he is.

After than or as, a personal pronoun on its own has the object form, e.g. me.

However, if the pronoun has a verb after it, then we use the subject form, e.g.I.

Key Points - climbing up in the ladder.

Key Points from Maxwell’s text about climbing up in the ladder.

In the past few weeks, I got excellent opportunity to go through lot of articles, books, audio tapes and videos related leadership topics. My whole September spent majority on Maxwell’s Leadership work.

There is a wonderful piece literature about leadership levels in “Developing Leader within You”. I thought it would be nice to provide my view about that here.

* Leadership is a journey & it does not end with an achievement of certain qualities.

* I view Maxwell’s five levels of leadership mainly within an organizational structure but it can be applied beyond that.

* There are 5Ps of leadership in the increasing order respectively – Position, Permission, Production, People Development, Personhood.

* Maxwell nicely states all the indicators starting with letter “R” so there will be 5Rs corresponding to each “P” level – Rights, Relationships, Results, Reproduction, Respect.

* One of the “Maxwell-ism” says “Leadership is Influence. That’s it. Nothing more; nothing less.” & all these five levels are carefully built on this Influence factor.

I encourage all of you to go through “Developing The Leader within You” to fulfill your leadership career.

Pecuniary

We know that "Pecuniary" pertains to money, as in, pecuniary affairs; let's discuss its derivation.

"Pecuniary" is derived from the Latin root "pecus" means cattle. In early days one's affluent background was not measured by stocks or shares but by the stock of cattle one possessed, which was considered to be logical as one could procure milk, meat and leather.

A person who had lots of "pecus", in the past, was affluent, a person who was without "pecus" was broke and destitute. In today's world who is without any money or funds habitually, who lacks money power is called an impervious person.

Comparative and Superlative forms-Short and long adjectives

Today we will talk about Comparative and Superlative forms-Short and long adjectives. 

»»»We form the Comparative and Superlative of short adjectives and long adjectives (cheap...expensive) in different ways.

Ex: cheap cheaper cheapest

       expensive more expensive most

       expensive.

»»»One-syllable adjectives(ex-small,nice) usually have the er,est ending.

§  Your car is smaller.

§  Eliza needs a bigger house now.

§  This is the nicest restaurant.

§  This zone is the warmest.

»»However, we use more, most with three-syllable adjectives (eg: ex-cit-ing) with longer ones.

§  The film was more exciting than the play.

§  The attire is more elegant.

§  We indulged in the most interesting project.

§  He is the most reliable of them all.

»»»Some two-syllable adjectives have we, est, and some have more, most.

Two-syllable adjectives:

»»»Words ending in consonant + y have er,est, e.g. happy, happier, happiest.

Like-busy, dirty, easy, tidy, silly, pretty, lucky, lovely, heavy, funny, easy.

»»»Some words have er, est or more, most, e.g, narrow, narrower, narrowest or more narrow, most narrow.

Like-clever, tired, stupid, simple, quiet, polite, pleasant, gentle, cruel, common.

»»»The below-mentioned words have more, most, e.g. useful, more useful, most useful.

§  Words ending in full or less, e.g. careful,helpful, useful, hopeless.

§  Words ending in ing or ed, e.g. surprised, annoyed, willing, boring.

§  Many others, e.g. afraid, recent, normal, nervous, modern, frequent, foolish, famous, exact, eager, correct, certain, afraid.

"Intrepid", "Trepidation" and "Scintillation".

Let us talk about the meaning and Latin origin of the words---"Intrepid", "Trepidation" and "Scintillation".

"Intrepid" derives from the Latin word trepido, to tremble. Intrepid people are audacious, exhibiting fearlessness, when confronted by dangers from which common mortals like us would run away.

"Intrepidity" is the noun.

David's intrepidity exacts admiration from all his friends and foes as well.

"Trepidation" means trembling, great fear or alarm.

When we saw a mighty lion in the forest at some distance,we fled from the spot in trepidation.

"Scintilla", in Latin, is a quick, bright spark; in English scintilla may also mean a spark, but more commonly refers to a very small particle.

There wasn't a scintilla of evidence to nail down the notorious criminal.

In the verb scintillate, the idea of the spark remains; someone who scintillates sparkles with charm and wit flashes brightly with humor.

Idioms by taking the word ‘LAY’?

Lay out (put into desired shape):

The new government has laid out gardens for public use.

Lay out (spend):

He laid out five hundred rupees in books.

Lay up (store for future use):

I have learned that he is laying up money for his future.

Lay up (confine to bed):

The child is laid up with tuberculosis.

Lay aside or Lay away (put away):

She laid aside all her apprehensions and inhibitions, and addressed the public.

Lay by (reserve):

Lay by something for future use.

Lay down (fix, prescribe):

The rebels laid down their arms.

Lay down (sacrifice):

The freedom fighters laid down their lives for the freedom of their country.

Lay on (to give blows with vigour):

The villagers laid on the thieves with their staves.

Idioms with the word "Make"?

Make up one's mind (determined): She has made up her mind to make her life happy.

Make up one's deficiency (remove one's shortcomings or weakness): Have you made up your deficiency in German?

Make after (run after): The police officer made after the thief and soon overtook him.

Make away with (get rid of, kill): The soldier was made away with secretly.

Make away with (steal): He made away with twenty thousand rupees.

Make for (lead to): Contentment makes for happiness.

Make straight (go directly towards): Hearing the report, we made straight for the scene of occurrence.

Make over (hand over): Make over the luggage to the porter.

Make out (discover, understand): I can't make out what this letter means.

Make off (carry away): The tiger pounced and seized the lamb and made off with it into the thicket.

Make up (end the misunderstanding and come together again): The four friends have made up their differences by now.

Make it up (reconcile): The two brothers shook hands and made it up.

Can you come up with some more!!