Cheaper, more reliable

  • A2 · Elementary
  • Grammar lesson
  • 60 min
  • comparatives

Comparative adjectives with -er (cheaper, bigger, easier), more (more reliable), better and worse, and than: The Honda is older than the Ford, but it's cheaper and more reliable. From two used car ads and a buyer who can't decide to a role-play at a used car lot.

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cheapermore reliablethan

What's in the lesson

  1. 1Warm-up
  2. 2In this lesson
  3. 3Reading: two used carsReading comprehension
  4. 4What does it mean?Grammar exercise
  5. 5Find the comparativesGrammar exercise
  6. 6How to make comparativesGrammar rule
  7. 7How do we make it?Grammar exercise
  8. 8At the car lotGrammar exercise
  9. 9Which is right?Grammar exercise
  10. 10Find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  11. 11Say it naturallySpeaking practice
  12. 12At a used car lotSpeaking practice
  13. 13About youGrammar exercise
  14. 14Wrap-up

Homework

  1. 1Homework: choose the right formGrammar exercise
  2. 2Homework: two job offersGrammar exercise
  3. 3Homework: find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  4. 4Homework: help a friend chooseDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

  1. Do you have a car, a bike or a scooter? Is it new or old?
  2. What is your dream car? Why?
  3. Which is better for you: a big car or a small car? Why?

Grammar rule

How to make comparatives

Use a comparative adjective + than to compare two people or things: A plane is faster than a train.

AdjectiveComparativeHow
one syllable: tall, fast, hardtaller, faster, harder+ -er
ends in -e: late, wide, cutelater, wider, cuter+ -r
one syllable, ending in one vowel + one consonant: fat, sad, thinfatter, sadder, thinnerdouble the last letter + -er
ends in a consonant + y: dirty, early, prettydirtier, earlier, prettiery → i + -er
two syllables or more (not -y): modern, careful, famousmore modern, more careful, more famousmore + adjective
irregular: good, bad, farbetter, worse, farther (or further)learn them
  • No double letter after two vowels or two consonants, or with w, x or y at the end: cheap → cheaper, old → older, new → newer.
  • A vowel + y keeps its y: gray → grayer.
  • Longer adjectives with the endings -ful, -ous, -ive, -al or -able take more: more careful, more famous, more active, more natural, more reliable.
  • A few two-syllable adjectives take both: quieter or more quiet, simpler or more simple.
  • After than: a noun (than the bus) or a pronoun (than me, than I am).
Watch out: -er or more, never both (not more cheaper). Not gooder or badder. And than, not then or that.

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