Basics for Comparing

So in the last lesson we talked about how we can invite friends to do things with us in a very natural and informal way.

Like most situations but in this video I want to talk about how we talk about the differences between things or the similarities between things differences.

I think you probably know this word and similarities.

What is kind of the same or almost the same and what is very different.

OK now we’re going to talk about what we call comparatives how we compare things this thing and this thing.

And we can compare all kinds of things we can compare objects actually physical things or we can compare ideas we can compare things in time we can compare amounts of things.

There are all sorts of things that we need to compare in everyday life.

So if you know how to do this and you can do it very easily and naturally then you’re able to very specifically explain for example.

No I don’t want that one.

I want that one.

Which one.

The one which is a little bit more blah blah blah.

So we’re going to learn that in today’s lesson.

So let’s just get started with some of the basics.

You probably have said and have heard people say bigger than smaller then or more interesting then less interesting then.

So why is it that sometimes we use her and sometimes we use more or less.

So I want to go through some examples so that this is clear and then we’ll then we’ll go on and do some more complicated some more detailed comparisons.

But first we have to start with the basics.

So why is it that we might say this apple is more is the basic structure delicious than that to Apple.

OK.

This apple is more delicious than that apple.

And over here we might say over here we might say this is easier.

You are right.

This is easier than I thought it would be.

OK.

So here we have two.

One uses E R and one is using more and then this one is also using then they all use then.

Well at least when we’re talking about the differences between things one and another and how they’re different it’s pretty simple actually.

Why this one E R is usually when there are one or two syllables.

Now if you don’t know a syllable a syllable is a beat in a word.

So let’s look at the word just very quickly.

Let’s work.

Look at the word basketball.

If I look at the word basketball it’s very difficult to tell how many syllables are or beats are in the word.

But if we actually say it out loud we can hear the number of bump bump bump beats in the word basketball.

Now that’s easy for me to hear.

But sometimes when you’re learning English it can be a little bit difficult to hear how many that is.

My name is Luke.

How many syllables does my name have.

One or two.

Actually it’s one but to make sure you can hear it correctly say the word with your mouth closed.

Luke hmm hmm hmm hmm.

I’m saying it but my mouth is closed.

There’s only one beat.

OK.

Basketball.

Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm.

Three syllables.

So when you’re looking at how many syllables.

Don’t look at.

Don’t look at the letters in the word because you can have a long word with not many syllables and a short word with many syllables.

It’s more about the sound.

And to get a feeling for it close your mouth and then you can hear it.

What’s the rule then why are we talking about syllables.

Well generally if you have one or two syllables then you’re going to use her for example faster easier.

All right.

Easy easy.

Two syllables fast fast.

Bigger smaller.

And then if you have three syllables or more like delicious How many syllables are in the word delicious delicious delicious.

Three syllables.

OK so more delicious.

That’s got all of them there.

Don’t worry then more delicious then.

OK.

More interesting then more beautiful then more appealing then.

OK so three or more syllables.

Now there are some times when you’ll see a two syllable word also using more then.

So for example if you say funny you say funnier funnier he is funnier than him.

Tom is funnier than Jerry.

That’s.

That’s right.

That’s totally correct.

But also you’ll see Tom is more funny than Jerry and that is correct as well.

So for two syllable words I would say generally speaking use her.

But there are some cases where more is much more common.

And it’s just because of the way that language is in language you never really know why something is more popular than another why why this word is more common than this word or this way of saying it is more common.

So you really just have to pay attention and look out for cases where two syllable adjectives use more instead of her.

Here’s a perfect example.

More more common then you really don’t see.

Commoner then more common that is pretty much the only way it’s done.

So you have to look out for these when it comes to the two syllable words for the one syllable words and the three syllable words pretty much always you can say this is E R and this is more or less in fact.

Same rule but for the two syllable ones you really have to pay attention again as a general rule.

Go for e r.

Sometimes it depends on the sound.

For example the word tender already has e r at the end.

So if you say tender tenderer tender sounds a bit strange right.

So it will be more common to say more tender just because of the earth sound of the adjective Wicked is also another good example.

Wicked means someone is really bad really bad or cruel to others right.

Very wicked.

Actually it has a more modern meaning as well.

Something is really cool people say Oh man that’s wicked but I don’t know if that’s popular anymore anyway.

Wicked would be one where you would say more wicked then just because it sounds a little bit weird to say wicked or wicked or it’s kind of hard to say so sometimes because it’s hard to say or because it sounds weird people prefer more even though it’s a two syllable word.