Near                       nearer                the nearest

                                                             the next

NOTE 4.Nextmeans ’without anything coming before or between; nearest’ (The next house to ours is a mile away).

3. The as … as pattern indicates equality, and the not as/so … as is used to indicate inequality: Molly is as smart asSusan. Molly is not as/so smart as Susan.

4. The words much (many before countable nouns), far, a great deal, still are used to intensify the quality expressed by the adjective in the comparative form and are translated into Russian as намного, гораздо, значительно: much/many more, muchlonger, farmore interesting.

5. To denote a greater degree of quality the Russian expressions в два раза, в три раза больше etc. are translated as twice asor three times as(large/heavy/much). To denote a smaller degree of quality the expressions half as (large/heavy/much) or half (my age/the size/the weight).

6.The Russian expressions ‘чем (больше/меньше/темнее и др.), тем (меньше/больше/светлее)’ are translated into English by comparative degree with the definite article: The more you have,the more you want.The nearer the winter, the shorter the days.

7. They use how+an adjective of measure to ask about the degree of a specific quality (note that preference is given to some adjectives, for e.g., old to young, large to small, high to low, light to dark): How old are you? How large is your house? (Cf. in Russian: Сколько Вам лет? Какой размер Вашего дома?)

E x e r c i s e s

Read the forms of the adjectives and work out the rules of their spelling in the comparative and superlative degrees.

Positive       Comparative                        Superlative

big                       biggest                              the biggest

hot                       hotter                                          the hottest

busy                    busier                                the busiest

dirty                    dirtier                                the dirtiest

gray                     grayer                                the grayest

brave                   braver                                the bravest

nice                     nicer                                  the nicest

simple                 simpler/more simple        the simplest/the most simple

free                     freer                                  the freest

4.2. Add -er or -est to the adjectives in brackets. Write the new forms of the adjectives.

4.4. Complete the sentences according to the model:

Model: My brother is (old) … his brother.

a) My brother is as old as his brother.

b) My brother is not as/so old as his brother.

c) My brother is older than his brother.

Read the poem and comment on the form of the adjectives.

The more we study, the more we know;

The more we know, the more we forget;

The more we forget, the less we know;

The less we know, the less we forget;

The less we forget, the more we know.

Why study?

4.6. Use much (many with countable nouns) before the comparative forms for emphasis.