Meanings Into Words: Grade XII

Unit 12

From student's book: Exercise: 12.3 (page: 116)

Follow-up structures:

a) High price item+is/are+about+two/three/four times etc.+as expensive as/as much as+low price item.

b) High price item+costs/cost+about+two/three/four times etc.+as expensive as/as much as+low price item.

c) Low price item+is/are+almost/about/nearly+half/third/etc+as expensive as/the price of+high price item.

Look at the examples:

Tinned peas: 25p                          frozen peas: 48p

Frozen peas are about two times as expensive as tinned peas.

Frozen peas cost about two times as much as tinned peas.

Frozen peas are about two times the price of tinned peas.

Tinned peas are almost half the price of frozen peas.

Tinned peas are about half as expensive as frozen peas.

Question: Compare the prices of the following things using as expensive as or as much as:

2. Cotton sheets: £ 14                 silk sheets: £ 150

→ Silk sheets are about eleven times as expensive as cotton sheets.

     Silk sheets cost about eleven times as much as cotton sheets.  

     Cotton sheets are almost an eleventh the price of silk sheets.

3. Olive oil: £ 2                   corn oil: 99P     {100 penny/cent= £1 (one pound sterling}

→Olive oil is about two times/twice as expensive as corn oil.

     Olive oil costs about two times/twice as much as corn oil.

     Corn oil is almost half the price of olive oil.

     Corn oil is about half as expensive as olive oil.

4. Leather gloves: £8                   woollen gloves: £2.75

 →Leather gloves are three times/thrice as expensive as woollen gloves.

     Leather gloves cost three times/thrice as much as woollen gloves.

     Woollen gloves are about a third the price of leather gloves.

     Woollen gloves are about a third as expensive as leather gloves.

5. Colour TV: £310                      black and white TV:  £60

→ Colour TV is five times as expensive as black and white TV.

     Colour TV costs five times as much as black and white TV.

     Black and white TV is about a fifth the price of colour TV.

     Black and white TV is about a fifth as expensive as colour TV.

Exercise: 12.4 (page: 117)

Question: Write the noun forms of the adjectives given below:

 Adjectives                        nouns         Adjectives                      nouns

1.Expensive---------------  Price          5. Thick ------------------ thickness   

2. Deep -------------------- depth          6. Long --------------------length

3. High/tall-----------------height         7. Heavy ------------------weight

4. Wide -------------------- width          8. Fast ---------------------speed 

Exercise: 12.6 (page: 119)

Comparisons with different tenses

Follow-up structures:

a) Sub+v+comparative form of adj/adv+than+ clause.

b) Sub+ v+as+positive form of adj/adv+as+clause.

   Positive degree                       comparative degree                              superlative degree

        Tall                                               taller                                                      tallest

        Expensive                              more expensive                                     most expensive

        Noisy                                            noisier                                                 noisiest

        Young                                         younger                                                youngest

        Little                                               less                                                     least

        Many                                              more                                                   most

N.B→ A clause is a part of sentence that has at least a subject and a predicate.

Question: Change the following sentences into comparative ones using (a) than and (b) as…….as.

1.         The exam is not usually very difficult, but this year it was quite tough.

→        The exam, this year, was much more difficult than it usually ought to be.

→        The exam, this year, wasn’t as easy as it usually ought to be. 

2.         I had imagined my landlady would be in her fifties, but she turned out to be                     thirty.

→        My landlady was much younger than I had imagined she would be.

→        My landlady wasn’t as old as I had imagined she would be. 

3.         His parents would like him to work hard, but he doesn’t.

→        His parents would like him to work much harder than he does.

→        He doesn’t work as hard as his parents would like him to do.

4.         The washing machine makes a lot of noise, although it used to be fairly quiet.

→        The washing machine is much noisier than it used to be.

→        The washing machine isn’t as quiet as it used to be. 

5.         You said I would enjoy the film, but in fact I did not like it much.

→        The film was far less enjoyable than you said I would enjoy.

→        The film wasn’t as enjoyable as you said I would enjoy.

6.         I had hoped to do quite a lot of work today, but I’ve only managed to do a little.

→        I have only managed to do far less work than I had hoped to do.

→        I haven’t managed to do as much work as I had hoped to do.

7.         They could have helped me a lot, but in fact they hardly helped me at all.

→        They gave far less help than they could have done.

→        They didn’t help me as much as they could have done. 

8.         I hadn’t expected her to be very angry, but in fact she was absolutely furious.

→        She was much more furious than I had expected her to be.

→        She wasn’t as calm as I had expected her to be. 

9.         Fifty people had been invited, but eighty came.

→        There came a lot more people than they had been invited.

→        There didn’t come as few people as they had been invited.

From work book: (page 60)

Question: Write two comparative sentences based on the information below using a) than and b) as…..as.

1. Car sales last year in Britain:        British cars:38%        foreign cars: 62%     (a lot)

→ Foreign cars are a lot more popular than British cars.

→ British cars are not nearly as popular as foreign cars. (not nearly)

2. Exam marks:        Jane:75%            Paul:42%        (far)

→ Jane secured far more marks than Paul did.

→ Paul's exam marks are not nearly as high as Jane's. (not nearly)

3. My house:  £ 40,000          your house:  £38,000 (slightly, almost)

→ My house is slightly more expensive than your house.

→ Your house is almost as expensive as mine.

4. Dover-London: 117km.         Harwich-London: 114km. (a little, not quite)

→ Dover is a little farther than Harwich from London.

→ Harwich is not quite as far as Dover from London.

5. Yesterday's temperatures:  Amsterdam: 19⁰    Beirut:  30⁰ (considerably, not nearly)

→ Yesterday's temperature in Amsterdam was considerably lower than in Beirut.

→ Yesterday's temperature in Beirut was not nearly as low as in Amesterdam.

6. Leeds:played 24 matches, won 17, West Ham: played 24 matches, won 19 (slightly, nearly)

→ West Ham won slightly more matches than Leeds did.

→ Leeds won matches nearly as many as West Ham did.

7. Jane is 16^1/2              Paul is 17       (a bit, not quite)

→ Paul is a bit older than Jane (is).

→ Jane isn't quite as old as Paul (is).

8. Maths exam: 70% failed          History exam: 24% failed.     (much, not nearly)

→ The maths exam was much more difficult than History exam.

→ The History exam was not nearly as difficult as the Maths exam.

From work book: (page 61) ex: 2

Question: Write sentences making numerical comparisons based on the information below:

1. George Hotel:        Single room £ 12.50 per night

                                    Double room £ 21.50 per night

® A double room at the George Hotel costs almost twice as much as a single room.

     A single room at the George Hotel is about half as expensive as a double room.

 

2. Estimated values: Cezanne, Landscape in Province:        £ 375,000

                                    Rembrandt, Portrait of a merchant     £125,000

® The Cezanne is worth thrice as expensive as the Rembrandt, the Portrait of a merchant.

     Rembrandt, the Portrait of a merchant is a third the price of Cezanne.

 

3. Journey times Dover-Boulogne:  Car ferry: 1 ^1/2 hours

                                                            Hovercraft: 30 minutes

® The journey from Dover to Boulogne by car ferry takes thrice as much time as by Hovercraft.  

     The journey from Dover to Boulogne by Hovercraft takes a third the time by car ferry.

     Hovercraft is exactly three times faster than car ferry.

 

4. Long-distance telephone calls, cost per minute: Standard rate: 20 p

                                                 Cheap rate (evenings and weekends): 5p

® The standard rate of long distance telephone calls is exactly four times as expensive as the cheap rate.

     The cheap rate of long distance telephone calls is a fourth as much as the standard rate.

5. London-glasgow:      British Rail:              5 hours  £46 return

                                    British Airways:          1 hour  £90 return

      ® a. British Airways is exactly five times faster than British Rail.

         b. British Rail is exactly five times slower than British Airways.

 

6. British annual cinema attendaces per person:   1950:    42

                                                                                    1974:    14

®  a. In 1950, the British annual cinema attendances per person was exactly three times as much as in 1974.

b. In 1974, the British annual cinema attendances per person was exactly a third the attendances in 1950.

 

7. Number of TV sets owned in Britain(1974): Colour:                  5,600,000

                                                                        Black and White: 11,200,000

®a. The number of Black and white TV sets owned in 1974 in Britain was exactly twice as many as colout TV sets.

b. The colour TV sets owned in 1974 in Britain was exactly half the number of Black and White TV sets.

 

8. Americans Killed since 1900:           War:                           400,000

                                                Road accidents:                       2000,000

® The number of Americans killed in road accidents since 1900 was exactly five times as many as those killed in war.

®The number of Americans killed in war since 1900 was exactly a fifth as many as those killed in road accidents.

 

From work book: (page 62) ex: 3

Express the meanings of the sentences below with another comparative sentence beginning with the words given.

1. Those children ought to go to bed much earlier than they do.

® Those children go to bed much later than they ought to.

2. H’s not supposed to drink quite as much as he does.

® He drinks much more than he’s supposed to do.

3. We hadn’t expected them to arrive as early as they did.

®They arrived much earlier than we had expected them to.

4. I’ve never been as frightened as I was during that flight.

® During that flight, I was much more frightened.

5. I had thought the room would be more expensive than it actually was.

® The room was actually much cheaper than I had thought it would be.

6. There are more foreign tourists this year than there have ever been before.

® There have never been as many  foreign tourists as there are this year.

7. You didn’t need to get up nearly as early as you did.

® You got up much earlier than you needed to do.

8. I would have liked to stay longer than I was able to.

® Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked.

9. It was quite unnecessary for you to tell them as much as you did.

®You told them much more than it was necessary for you to do. 

                                The End of Unit 12.