Speaking

1. Answer the following questions:

(a) Does computer science play an important role in our life?

(b) How could you imagine our life without computers?

(c) How often do you use a computer to do personal tasks?

(d) Do you think that we should learn computer science at school? Why?

(e) Did computer change your life?

(f) Can you tell about advantages of computer?

(g) Can you tell about disadvantages of computer?

2. Ask your partner questions about:

(a) information systems; (b) computer science; (c) the management of technology; (d) Börje Langefors; (e) International Conference on Information Processing and Computer Science; (f) Chief Information Officer.

3. Retell the text.

4. How do you understand the story? Discuss it with your partner.

A school teacher injured his back and had to wear...

A school teacher injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. It fit under his shirt and was not noticeable at all. On the first day of the term, still with the cast under his shirt, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in school. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he took the desk stapler and stapled the tie to his chest. Discipline was not a problem from that day forth!

Grammar adjective

Comparative form of Adjectives

When we compare two things or people we look at what makes them different from each other.

For example:

Tall / Short

The man on the left is taller than the man on the right.

The man on the right is shorter than the man on the left.

Fast / Slow

A car is faster than a bicycle.

A bicycle is slower than a car.

Comparative adjectives are used to show what quality one thing has more or less than the other. They normally come before any other adjectives.

For example:

Big / Small

The grey bag is bigger than the black bag.

The black bag is smaller than the grey bag.

Forming the comparative

Form	Rule	For example
Words of one syllable ending in 'e'.	Add -r to the end of the word.	wide - wider
Words of one syllable, with one vowel and one consonant at the end.	Double the consonant and add -er to the end of the word.	big - bigger
Words of one syllable, with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end.	Add - er to the end of the word.	high - higher
Words of two syllables, ending in 'y'.	Change 'y' to 'i', and add -er to the end of the word.	Happy - happier
Words of two syllables or more, not ending in 'y'.	Place 'more' before the adjective.	beautiful - more beautiful

The following adjectives are exceptions to this rule:

'good' becomes 'better'

'bad' becomes 'worse'

'far' becomes 'farther' or 'further'

Note!

When comparing two things like this we put than between the adjective and the thing being compared.

For example:

"Mount Everest is higher than Mount Snowdon."

"Arguably, Rome is more beautiful than Madrid."

Superlative Adjectives

The superlative is used to say what thing or person has the most of a particular quality within a group or of its kind. Superlative adjectives normally come before any other adjectives.

		Snowdon is not the highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis is.
Mount Snowdon is 3,559 feet high.	Ben Nevis is 4,408 feet high.

Forming the superlative

Form	Rule	For example
Words of one syllable ending in 'e'.	Add -st to the end of the word.	wide - widest
Words of one syllable, with one vowel and one consonant at the end.	Double the consonant and add -est to the end of the word.	big - biggest
Words of one syllable, with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end.	Add - est to the end of the word.	high - highest
Words of two syllables, ending in 'y'.	Change 'y' to 'i', and add -est to the end of the word.	happy - happiest
Words of two syllables or more, not ending in 'y'.	Place 'the most' before the adjective.	beautiful - the most beautiful

The following adjectives are exceptions:

'good' becomes 'the best'

'bad' becomes 'the worst'

'far' becomes 'the furthest'

For example:

"Jill is the best student in the class."

"Jack is the worst student in the class."

"In our solar system the planet Pluto is the furthest planet from the Sun."

Note!

Superlatives are usually preceded by 'the'.

For example:

"The Rio de la Plata river, on the southeast coastline of South America, is the widest river in the world."

According to the List of World records Carol Yager (1960-1994), from Michigan, is the fattest person ever to live, weighing 725 kg (1,600 lb).

"Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world."

"I think that Castle Combe is the prettiest village in England."

"Arguably, Rome is the most beautiful city in the world."

When we group adjectives together there is a general rule for the position of each type adjective, these are:

Position	1st*	2nd*	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Material	Origin	Purpose
	Nice	Small	Old	Square	Black	Plastic	British	Racing
	Ugly	Big	New	Circular	Blue	Cotton	American	Running

For example:

"She had a big, ugly, old, baggy, blue, cotton, British, knitting bag."

Is grammatically correct but a bit too long-winded.

Note!

You might swap opinion and fact adjectives depending on what you wish to emphasise.

For example:

"She had a long, ugly nose." emphasising the length of her nose.

"He was a silly, little man." emphasising that the man was silly.