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than ( ),

:

e.g. His term of imprisonment is shorter than hers. –

,.

Exercise 1. Write down the comparative and superlative forms of the adjectives and adverbs:

1.Short, long, wide, dirty, clean, dark, light, thick, thin, cold, dry, silly, weak, tall, strong, heavy, happy, big.

2.Beautiful, old, bad, great, poor, large, good, brave, cheap, hot, pretty,

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friendly, careful, stupid, narrow, dangerous, young.

3. Rich, interesting, expensive, comfortable, intelligent, strange, difficult,

quick, easy, rude, cheerful, fast, hopeful, lazy.

Exercise 2. Translate the following word-combinations paying attention to the

form of adjectives:

-large country – larger country – the largest country

-important method – more important method – the most important method –

the least important method

-rapid progress – more rapid progress – the most rapid progress

-little efficiency – less efficiency – the least efficiency

-good means – better means – the best means

-deep knowledge – deeper knowledge – the deepest knowledge – the deepest possible knowledge

-bad understanding – worse understanding – the worst understanding

-bad conditions – worse conditions – the worst conditions

-heavy traffic – heavier traffic – the heaviest traffic

-difficult task – more difficult task – the most difficult task – the least difficult

task

-short interrogation – shorter interrogation – the shortest interrogation – the shortest possible interrogation

-efficient application – more efficient application – the most efficient application

-good work – better work – the best work

Exercise 3. Define the degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs and

translate the following words and word combinations:

Worse, less archaic laws, civil officers, badly, more complicated, the least serious crime, criminal proceedings, a corrupt President, easier, the latest report, constitutional duties, the most dangerous criminal statutory crime, better, the most

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essential, more attentive.

Exercise 4. Translate into English:

Exercise 5. Translate into English:

. .

.

Exercise 6. Read and wonder. Underline the comparative and superlative forms:

STRANGE BUT TRUE

1.The most common family name in the world is Chang: there are about 75,000,000 people called Chang in China.

2.The most common first name in the world is Mohammed.

3.The oldest map was made 5,000 years ago. t

4.Rats can live without water longer than camels.

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5. The population in Mexico City is nearly three times more than in Nor-

way.

6.One of the narrowest streets in the world is St. John's Lane in Rome: it is 49 cm wide. But there is a street in Cornwall, England, that is even narrower: it is 48 cm wide at its narrowest point.

7.On average New York is colder than Reykjavik (Iceland). The coldest place in the world in Antarctica, has an average temperature of — 57,8° C.

(From English, Practice Book I by Michael Swan and Catherine Walter,

Cambridge University Press)

Exercise 7. Read the sentences, find adjectives and adverbs and define their

degrees of comparison:

1.The evidence of the witness should be examined carefully.

2.We should have less delinquency if people married more wisely, if parents knew better how to deal with their children's personal problems.

3.The judge said that the witness would be interviewed as soon as possible.

4.This article is directly related to the information we are looking for.

5.The more correct information is stored in a computer, the more precise

data we get.

6.I bought the latest edition of today's paper and read about these most terrible crimes.

7.Her illness was more serious than we at first thought.

8.He is the cleverest lawyer I know.

9.Here it is, the latest news from the middle East. The situation there hasn't got much better, has it?

10.The day that Christopher Roberts entered prison for the crime he had never committed was the worst day of his long and eventful life. Fortunately, he was eventually found innocent and set free.

11.The pollution in our town isn't as bad as it used to be, and crime and corruption have become less serious problems; things are getting better.

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12.People are not always so good as they appear – isn't that true, Mr. Nero?

13.The police are not always the most honest people in town, are they?

14.With taxes the way they are these days, it seems the more money I make, the less I have.

Exercise 8. Find the comparative constructions:

1.Let's take this way, it's a mile shorter than that one.

2.Now the road seemed many times as long, which always happens when you are dead tired.

3.Jane was as nervous as I once had been before the interview.

4.Kate works reasonably hard but she used to work much harder.

5.The more we know about law the more control we get over it.

6.This code costs twice as much as the other one.

7.The biggest Cali bosses appear to be safely behind bars.

8.The agents were further charged with conspiracy to commit arson.

9.A very large majority recognized the need for an effective punishment, called for the return of corporal punishment and asked for firmer discipline in schools.

10.It is now clear that, since the 1970s, drug trafficking has become the most organized, most professional and most profitable of all illegal activities.

11.We were dealing with a larger number of criminals and prisoners were very often violent.

12.Although Mr. Pickering received a retirement pension based on his contributions over more than 20 years, it was considerably less than the entitlement of an officer disabled at work.

13.The decisions will lead to higher pension.

14.Prosecutors were certain they had more than enough witnesses to back up the charge.

15.One of the most effective ways of tracing missing people is publicity.

16.The solution of this problem is twice as simple as they think.

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