Hello everyone, welcome back to yet another very interesting lesson. I had a wonderful
weekend, wanna know why? Well, I managed to read two of my favourite books. Now I'll tell
you what, this book was a lot more interesting than this one. Or shall I say, this book was
not as interesting as this one. Which one do you think is correct? Confused? well, I
would also be confused however you don't need to be confused anymore because today's lesson
is gonna deal with how we can talk about similarities and differences when we are going to draw
or compare adjectives of various things. And of course, learning English is all about saying
different things in the right way or in different ways, correct? So today's lesson is going
to show you how you can compare and contrast various different adjectives while you are
talking. So stay tuned, I am Ceema and I'll show you how to compare and contrast.
Alright, now when we are comparing and contrasting as children when we were learning English,
what did we learn? We were always told about using the positive, the comparative
and the superlative forms of adjectives, right? Well for those who don't know what positive,
comparative and superlative degrees or forms of adjectives are. They are using adjectives
in different forms. So for example, you say, big which is the positive degree, which in
the comparative degree turns to bigger and in the superlative, it becomes biggest. So
if I am smart, you are smarter and someone else could be smartest, right? However, as
I told you awhile ago, learning and speaking good English is always using English or using
new words in various different ways, right? So, we don't always have to use the positive,
comparative or the superlative forms of adjectives. You can actually use or compare adjectives
in various different ways and that's what I'm going to be dealing with today.
So let's see how we can do that. Now sometimes, we need to talk about a huge difference in
various adjectives. A huge difference not a small difference but a huge difference.
So using these forms may not do justice to the way of speaking. So, we need to use some
different words, what are they? Okay, look at this sentence, it says the demand for clothes
this month is much higher than last month. Over here, you are going to use the word,
much before the comparative degree because we don't know the exact difference between
the sales or the demand for clothes between this month and the month that just went by.
So, when we're talking about a huge difference but we don't really know what the exact difference
is, we always use the word, much before the comparative form of the adjective. Okay, now
there is another way of talking about a huge difference. You could use a word or two words
which are a lot. So, he is a lot stronger than you. There is a difference between the
strength that you possess and that your brother possesses, right? But you don't know the exact
difference but it is a huge difference. So, you can say, he is a lot stronger than you.
Okay, isn’t that a more interesting way of putting it? Right, the third way of doing
that is by using another set of words which could be more. So you can say this watch is
more cheaper than the one you wore last night because over here again, you don’t have
to just use the comparative form. You can use a word like, more in front of the comparative
form. So, this watch is more cheaper than the one you wore last night. so, in all these
three sentences, you can see how you're actually talking about a huge difference between the
adjectives or between things but instead of just using the comparative form, you are trying
to make your English sound a little bit better by using words like, much, a lot and more
and there is another word you can use. Okay, if two people or say me and my sister, you
know we're very different, there is a huge difference, right? So you could simply say,
we are very different or you could use the word, far different. so when we're talking
about a huge difference, in addition to using these words, which is much, a lot and more,
you could also use very different or far different, okay.
Now, when we are going to talk about a small difference, what words are we going to use?
Now there are very interesting ways of also bringing about the contrast and comparison
between adjectives with a small difference. Okay, so what are they? The first sentence
says sales in December were slightly higher than sales this month. so a very small difference,
so let's say, sales in December were may be £75000 but may be you know it was a little
lower this month, a slight difference, right? so, instead of using lower which is the comparative
form, you can simply say, sales in December were slightly and then you use the comparative
form of the verb, of the adjective, I’m sorry. So instead of just using the comparative
form again, you can use a word like slightly to show the small difference between the adjectives.
Alright, now our second sentence deals with another word or two words rather, which is
a bit to show a small difference, you could say, you are a bit taller than me probably
half an inch, right? It’s a small difference but you don't wanna talk about inches, that’s
too technical, right? So you'll just say, you're a bit taller than me or you're slightly
taller than me.
Okay, the third sentence is, these are not much more prettier than those. Okay so when
you are saying not much more, again you are talking about a difference which is very,
very tiny. A very small difference, okay that's when you say, these are not much more prettier
than those or these are not much more expensive than the one you wore yesterday.
Okay, so these are the different ways in which you will talk about comparing or contrasting
adjectives when you want to talk about a huge difference between adjectives or a small difference.
Sometimes, you also want to make comparisons even when there is no difference. So instead
of being boring and talking about you know technical things like a person's height or
their weight or their age, you can use some words that show that there is no difference
between people's height, weight or let's say any other adjective that you can possibly
think about.
Okay, so if we're talking about comparing even though there is no difference, there
are some more interesting words or ways of speaking to do that. So we got a sentence
which says, he's exactly the same age as my brother. So, when you say the same age or
the same height, we're talking about no difference but we don't wanna talk about the same height.
We don't wanna get into the technicality. So we may just use the word same followed
by whatever you're comparing. So in this case, may be you or the guy you're talking to is
6 feet tall and so is your brother. So, he's exactly the same age as my brother.
Okay, moving on, to the next way of showing no difference is by using a phrase which is,
more or less. More or less again denotes no difference which means it's very similar,
right? So, the flowers are more or less the same colour as our curtains. so may be your
curtains are a nice shade of pink, a soft pink and the flowers you're looking at, that
you’re comparing happen to be the same colour but you don’t wanna talk about the colour
because you don't know what the colour really is. So you will simply say, the flowers are
more or less the same colours as our curtains.
Okay, the next sentence compares food. We all love to compare food, right? This food's
more bland, that food's more spicy, that food's more tastier but we can compare even there
is no difference. How do you do that? So, talking about Thai food, so Thai food is similar
to Chinese food. So when there is no difference between the two foods, you can use a phrase
which says, similar to. So, Thai food is similar to Chinese food which in other words, means
that there is no difference between the two foods, okay.
Well, that's it from me on this lesson about how you can compare and contrast and thus
effectively bring about the similarities and differences when you are using adjectives.
I’m sure if you use them in the right way while talking your English is going to definitely
improve. So I'll be back with some more lessons, until then, it's me saying keep practising,
take care.