English Language Blog

I am tall but Mary is taller and Tom is the tallest of us all.

Can you find the adjective in the sentence above? Remember, an adjective is a word that describes or tells us more about a noun or a pronoun.

If you said “tall” then you were correct. Tall is the adjective in the opening sentence. You might be wondering why tall gets some extra letters (-er and –est) further along in the sentence. That is because when we make comparisons with adjectives we do so in these ways:

The first thing you probably noticed in the chart above was the three forms at the top – positive, comparative and superlative.

• Positive – The unaltered form of an adjective is often referred to as the positive form. We use the positive form when talking about only one thing (I am tall.).
• Comparative – We use the comparative form when we are comparing two people or things (Mary is taller than me.).
• Superlative – We save the superlative form for when we compare one of three or more people/things (Tom is the tallest person in the group).

Tip: Even though in theory we should use the superlative only when we are talking about three or more people or things, in practice many people don’t pay attention to this. For example:

• Put your best foot forward. (We only have two feet, so you technically should use the comparative form of good, which is “better” but almost everyone says “best” instead)
• I like both of the houses but this one is the cheapest. (We are only talking about two houses but the superlative form of cheap is used.)

And what do all those groups mean? Let me tell you:

• Group One – This method of comparison is used for most adjectives of one syllable. It is also used for some adjectives that have two or more syllables.
• Group Two – This is the version you use for the adjectives that don’t fall into group one and that are not irregular.
• Group Three – This would be all the irregulars.

Tip: We never put more or most before the adjective and add the –er or –est ending at the same time.

No doubt during your language studies you have received lots of advice about the best way to “become fluent.” One of these ideas that often comes up is to immerse yourself in the culture and the language but just how do you do that? Here’s some ideas of what a language immersion day might look like.

Good Morning Sunshine

Instead of setting your alarm to the boring beep beep sound most alarms are set to, why not set your alarm to a song that is sung in English. Not only will you wake up to a much more interesting sound, it gets your English Immersion Day off to a brilliant start. Here’s a suggestion for you:

Now that we are awake, let’s tackle breakfast. While you are deciding what to eat, have a quick read through this article about some of the things Americans eat for breakfast. Maybe even pick one of the options that the article mentions.

A full stomach makes learning a little easier, so let’s get on with some proper study. Any of the following are great for developing your English:

• Work on your English survival phrases
• Take an English Proficiency test
• Browse (and maybe even purchase!) some new English resources
• Read the news in English (here are two websites: www.cnn.com and www.bbc.co.uk)

I’d Like to Order…

It’s lunchtime and I’m starting to feel a bit hungry. How about you? Just because you want to grab a bite to eat, doesn’t mean that you have to pause your immersion day. If you are in an English speaking country, why not head out to a local restaurant and order your meal in English. If you aren’t in an English speaking country, you could always practice your acting skills as well as your English skills by pretending to be an English speaking tourist.

After all of that English conversation at the restaurant, you deserve a small break. How about some TV? In English of course! Here are some videos for you:

Now that we have had a good rest, it is time to think about dinner. Let’s make something from scratch. Not only will we end up with something yummy to eat, we can also practice reading and following a recipe in English. AllRecipes and SimplyRecipes are two great websites for finding English recipes.

During your meal be sure to try your best to only talk in English. Dinner is a great opportunity to work on conversation.

Rest and Relax

Phew! What a full day. After dinner why not settle down with an English book or magazine before jumping into bed and giving your brain a well-deserved rest.

What would you do on an English Immersion Day?

Hello there! I hope that you have been having an enjoyable week. Today I have a poem for you. It is called What is the Sun? and is written by Wes Magee. Have a read through it. If you feel confident enough go ahead and read it aloud.

What is the Sun?

the Sun is an orange dinghy

sailing across a calm sea

it is a gold coin

dropped down a drain in Heaven

the Sun is a yellow beach ball

kicked high into the summer sky

it is a red thumb-print

on a sheet of pale blue paper

the Sun is a milk bottle’s gold top

floating in a puddle

This poem has a lot of metaphors for the sun. A metaphor is something described as if it were something else. It is like a simile but does not include the words like or as.

The simplest form of metaphor is: “The [first thing] is a [second thing].” For example, one metaphor you often hear people say is “my father is a rock.” They don’t actually mean that there father is a grey piece of stone in their garden. They mean that there father is strong and reliable, just like a rock is strong and reliable because it takes a lot to make it change size and shape.

How many metaphors can you spot in the poem above about the sun? You might even like to make a list of them.

If you would like some practice with metaphors, why not try some of the following activities:

• rewrite one of the metaphors in the poem above changing the metaphor into a simile
• write a few sentences about one of the metaphors above explaining what the author meant
• use the pattern of the poem to create your own poem filled with metaphors – here are some titles that might inspire your poem”
• What is a tree?
• What is the rain?
• What is a cloud?