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Bluesnap. (2013). Contenedores. (Photography). Retrieved on 27-04-2017 from https://pixabay.com/es/contenedores-de-reciclaje-177114/
Swinmfreak424. (2015). Ecofriendly. (Illustration). Retrieved on 27-04-2017 from https://pixabay.com/en/image-ecofriendly-environment-1032587/
Geralt. (2014). Earth. (Illustration). Retrieved on 27-04-2017 from https://pixabay.com/en/earth-globe-birth-new-arise-405096/
Did you notice the words in bold and the underlined ones? The underlined words are adjectives: both green and eco-friendly describe something, in this case, “city” and “country”. As for the words in bold: “the”, “most”, and “-est” ending, they are superlative expressions that we use when comparing more than two things.
As you study this subject, you will learn to compare more than two things to express the highest or lowest degree of a shared characteristic among them. Furthermore, you will learn about eco-friendly cities around the world. Then you will contrast them with the city you live in. Next, you will reflect on the impact your daily routine has on how eco-friendly your city is.
By the end of this topic you will:
Use superlative structures to compare life in green cities. You will use them to express the highest or lowest degree of a shared characteristic among them.
Superlative expressions are structures used to express the highest or lowest degree of a characteristic.
These expressions are formed depending on the length of the adjective or adverb. Read the following chart carefully to understand how superlatives are created and used them to establish a comparison in a sentence.
| Notice that… | Because... | |||||||||||||||
She is the wisest doctor . She tried the hardest not to show her disappointment to him. |
we add -est at the end of almost all one-syllable adjectives and adverbs. |
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He is the most famous politician IN THE WORLD. He drives the most slowly OF ALL my friends. |
we use most with almost all two-syllable adjectives and -ly ending adverbs. |
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What was the most important information during today’s meeting? Special cases: notice that… |
we also use most with long adjectives. |
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This is the prettiest garden! *Early is both an adjective and an adverb. The superlative is earliest. |
we change -y to -i and add -est at the end of two-syllable adjectives |
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with some two-syllable adjectives we can use -est or most: able, angry, clever, common, cruel, friendly, gentle, handsome, narrow, pleasant, polite, quiet, simple, sour. |
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good and bad have irregular superlative forms. |
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The little boy ran the farthest of all his friends. |
these are irregular adverbs. |
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Please NOTICE that:
“The final exam was the least difficult in all semester.” |
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Activity 1
As you have read, we must follow some rules to use a superlative form. Therefore, you to practice what you’ve just learnt.
In the first exercise, you will practice forming superlatives using the adjectives and adverbs in the following list. Pay particular attention to the spelling rules you just learnt. You have two opportunities to complete the exercise.
Use the adjectives given to fill in the blanks with a superlative form. Know that the resulting list with your answers will be part of your evaluation for this topic.
When you finish writing down the corresponding superlative form, you will get the grade for your work.
Activity 2
As was discussed in the content section, superlative expressions are used to express the highest or lowest degree of a characteristic.
In this activity, you will practice your listening skills to identify, some of the superlative forms used in the song.
The song is titled “Everything”, it was composed and recorded by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette. Go to YouTube or any other video and/or audio browser and look for the song. Then listen to the lyrics to fill in the blank spaces.
Once you have listened to the song and filled in the blanks with the words you heard, click on check answers to see how well you did. Remember to use lower case letters, and you can only do the activity twice.
Activity 3
You will read an adapted version of the blog Green Uptown Section: in Nature, Renewable, Sustainable: Top Ten Greenest Cities in the World for 2015 consulted on March 31st 2017 at http://www.greenuptown.com/top-ten-greenest-cities-world-2015/. In this text, you will find out about the three most eco-friendly cities in the world during 2015.
Keep in mind that superlative expressions are structures are used to express the highest or lowest degree of a characteristic. By reading the text about eco-friendly cities in the world, you will witness the use of superlative forms in a familiar everyday context. Answer the comprehension questions presented to you after reading about each city.
Based on the reading decide if the following statements are True or False. You can know your score at the end of the exercise.
Activity 4
You have been listening and reading on how the superlative forms are used to express the highest or lowest degree of a characteristic.
It is time for you to use them.
You will be putting into practice the rules to form one-syllable, two-syllable, and longer adjectives and adverbs superlatives.
Here, you will record yourself saying at least eight sentences using the different forms of the superlative.
Activity 5
So far you have practised the use of superlative forms using your listening, reading and speaking skills. It is now time to put your writing skills to use.
Now, you will write ten sentences comparing tourism, hot weather, cold weather, population and altitude of some Mexican states and cities to express the highest AND the lowest degree in each case.
Example:
“Reykjavik, Iceland is the greenest city in the world today.”
“Portland, Oregon is the least green city in the world”.
Remember to write down your answers using both capital and lowercase letters. Use the checklist to see how well you did and get a grade.
• Schrampfer-Azar, B. (1992). Fundamentals of English Grammar. Nueva York: Prentice Hall, pp. 332-333 y 339-341.
• Morissette, Alanis. “Everything”. The Collection. 2005.
• Green Uptown. (2015, 18 de enero). Top Ten Greenest Cities in the World for 2015. Consultado el 31 de marzo de 2017 en
