Have you wondered how to use words like, big, small, huge, tiny, long, tall or short? Well
in this lesson today, we are gonna learn how to use these simple words in English.
Hi friends I am Niharika and welcome back to a new lesson.in today's lesson, we are
gonna look at very simple adjectives that people end up using in their daily conversation
in English. Adjectives are like big, small, long, short, tall or huge or tiny. So how
do you use these simple adjectives in English? Well, that's what we are going to look at.
So firstly, let's have a look and understand the adjectives big and small. Now when do
you use this? When you are talking about general sizes. Like you know general sizes of something,
general dimensions of something, you end up using the words like big or small. Now let's
have a look at some examples here, we have big dogs and then we have small dogs. Now
we all know that there are different breeds of dogs, right? So we have like big dogs like
Labradors or golden retrievers or mastiffs, they are big dogs. But on the other hand,
we also have small dogs like, maybe a Shih Tzu or a pug or a Bichon. So these are small
dogs. So when you are talking about big dogs, you will use the word big. Okay because we
are just talking about the general size of a dog. So I'm gonna say I love big dogs more
than small dogs because that's what I prefer. I feel that big dogs are a little more docile,
little more loving than the smaller ones. Okay so that's how you would use the adjectives
big and small.
Another example for you is big house. Now there are people who have these big houses.
So when you have to describe the size of a house, you would use the word big. You will
say that, I loved her big house. Okay because the size of the house was big, so you are
using the word, big.
Then we have, small house. So small house may be just with two rooms and that's about
it. So it's not a very big house. So you are using the adjective small. Okay so don't get
confused because people don't know when to use these words correctly, so it's very simple.
For a big size house, you will use the word, big and for a small house, you gonna say,
small.
And then we have an exception. Well the word large. Now when you are talking about clothes
or when you are talking about food, you end up using the word, large. Okay a large meal
or a large T-shirt. So when you are talking about food or clothes, you end up using the
word large. So for example, I wear a large T-shirt or a large size t-shirt. So I'm not
gonna say I wear a big size t-shirt. I will use the word large because I am talking about
clothes. And then another one is small t-shirts, so I’m gonna say small size T-shirt. So
I wear a small size t-shirt. Okay or I have to buy a small size T-shirt for my sister.
so I use the word small but the only difference and the only exception is that you use the
word large instead of using the word big, when you talk about clothes or when you talk
about food, okay. So that's the difference between big and small and this is how you
would use it when you are talking about general sizes of something, okay?
Now let's move on to the words like long, short, tall. How to use them and why do we
use them? Well we use long and short to talk about length but to talk about horizontal
length whereas you use the word tall and of course the opposite of tall is short, when
you are talking about vertical length. Okay now let's understand the difference and let's
look at some examples as well. So we have a long queue. Now queue is a line, like for
example you go to a movie theatre and you have to buy tickets and you see that, there
is a long queue, so it's a horizontal queue, right? Too many people standing in a line,
so that's a long queue. But there’s a difference, you would not say, it's a short queue but
you will turn the long into negative and you will use the word, not so long. So you’ll
say, ahh, the queue is not so long. I think we can wait. Okay so that's how you would
use these words and then there's another one. now we use the word long to talk about horizontal
length but we also use the word long to talk about movies or to talk about time duration
and also to talk about hair and even legs. So I'm gonna put it here, so you end up using
the word long for time, to talk about duration. Okay that's a long movie. So probably the
movie is like a 3 hours movie and it's just too long. Then you also talk about, when you
are talking about the hair length. You say, wow she has beautiful long hair. Then when
you talk about legs, you use the word long. Okay, wow she has long legs and then even
words. You know there are certain words and it just takes you aback and you say, wow that's
a long word in English. So yes when you are talking about words and sentences, you would
use the word, long. So that's a long word, that's a long sentence. Okay, so make sure
you use long with these things.
Now let's look at the word short. Now as I said, that you would also use the word, short
for horizontal length as well as for vertical length. So not so long queue. The movie was
pretty short. Okay so, you talking about time, you talking about time duration and I don't
like short hair. Yeah, that's not what I prefer. I like long, beautiful hair. I don't like
short hair. So when you are talking about hair, you can use the word, short.
And now let's move on to the word, tall. So tall, we use this word when we are talking
about vertical length. So when you are talking about someone's height, okay that person is
so tall, you use the word tall. You will not say that person is so big or that person is
so long. That would be incorrect. The correct adjective to talk about somebody's height
is the word, tall. She’s so tall but he's so short. Okay, a tall building, New York
is full of tall buildings. Right, so you would use the word tall when you talk about buildings.
A tall man, he's a tall man and then you have tall trees. Now when you talk about trees,
you use the word, tall. That forest is full of tall trees. So again because their like
long trees but you're not gonna use the word long that would be incorrect, when you say
they are long trees. The correct word would be, there are tall trees in that forest. Okay
so that's how you will use these adjectives and now let's understand when and how to use
huge and tiny.
Here are the words huge and tiny with some examples. So let's understand, when and how
to use the word, huge, when you talk about, very big things or very big sizes, then you
use the word, huge. So something which is very big and when you use the word tiny, then
you are talking about something really small, miniature. And now let's look at some examples,
huge elephant. Oh yes the animal elephant is huge. So rather than using words like big,
I would prefer using the word, huge because elephant is really big, right? So when you
are talking about something which is, really big, you can use the word, huge. So elephant
is a huge animal. Then we have huge airports, well the London airport or the London Heathrow,
the airport is really big, it's huge. So that's how you can describe the airport size and
then we have huge house. So we talked about, big house. Now I'm using the adjective huge,
a huge house. Now a big house is may be house with two or three rooms and a nice big size
house. But when I say that, she bought a new huge house. So this means that house is really
big and may be the house has like around 10 bedrooms and like an amazingly huge basement
and so on. So that's a huge house.
Now let's look so some example using the adjective tiny, especially when you are talking about
very small, little things. So a tiny mouse, yes. Mouse, it is a little creepy creature
but then when you are talking about a mouse, then you can use the word, tiny. There’s
a tiny mouse in my house. Okay, then when you talk about tiny vodka bottles. Yes when
you go on a flight and they serve you these miniature bottles, so you can use the adjective
tiny. Oh, that's a tiny bottle that you have. Okay and then we have tiny chips. so tiny
chips is when you are talking about technology, like when like years ago when we had these
computers, they were really big and now if you see, we have tablets and we have these
small, little computers. So you can use the word, tiny chips which has like a tiny motherboard
or a tiny processor. So everything is tiny. And that's how you use the adjective tiny
to talk about small, little things.
Okay, so these are very simple adjectives that you use daily. So this brings me to the
end of this lesson. Start using them and I'll be back with a new lesson soon, till then
you take care.