Constructions with comparison

Exercise 1. Complete these sentences using the pattern the adjective (compar.)…the adjective (compar.)

1. The later the general election, ………..

2. The higher the temperature, ………..

3. ………. the more expensive it becomes.

4. The bigger lemon gets ………..

5. ………. the more difficult it is to get up in the morning.

6. “But the more circumstantial a case is,” she argued, ………..

7. It’s all just a simulation, of course, but the more realistic we make it, ………..

8. The longer she stays out, ………..

9. I thought she was on our side, and the closer I got to her, ………..

10. The more time she spent with Luther Mason, ………..

Exercise 2. Complete the sentences below with the pairs of words in the box.

faster, sooner older, wiser longer, less sooner, better more, more sooner, sooner

1. Come on, let’s go. She ………. we leave, the ………. we’ll get there.

2. The ………. I think about what I said to Gill, the ………. I think I was wrong.

3. Come on. The ………. we work, the ………. we can go home.

4. The ………. I get, the ………. I become.

5. The ………. I finish school, the ………. I just want.

6. The ………. I work here, the ………. I like the way we’re treated.

Exercise 3. Complete these sentences with as…as or not as / such…as. Use the words in the brackets and add any other necessary words.

1. It’s ………. I’ve ever read in a newspaper (intelligent).

2. Since her accident, Maty has tried to lead ………. possible (normal) life.

3. It’s ………. I’d imagined (not / beautiful) house.

4. They’re……….………. in the last school I worked at (not / well-behaved) children.

5. Mr. Truworth is ………. his predecessor was (not / popular) President.

6. The new motorway is ………. it is in the countryside (not/ major/issue) town.

Substantivised adjectives

Exercise 1. Use the appropriate substantivised adjectives.

A human ideal

A just society is a human ideal. We would all like to live in a place where (rich) are not too rich and (poor) are not too poor; where no one would be shocked or embarrassed at the way (old) are cared for. (blind) would have as much opportunity (sighted). (deaf) would be able to develop their skills. (unemployed) would not depend on the state, because no one would be unemployed. (healthy) would take care of (sick). The most innocent people in society, (young) would be protected. In this happy place no one would feel depressed or distressed. Unfortunately, in the real world, life can be both distressing and depressing. So let’s be thankful for a sense of humour. I recently say a notice in an undertaker’s window and I wasn’t sure whether it was addressed to (living) or (dead). It said: “Once you’ve tried one of our funerals, you’ll never want to try another!”

Exercise 2. State the type of substantivised adjectives and fill in appropriate articles before sibstantivised adjectives where necessary.

1. She was twenty-four. Her skin was pale with a touch of ………. green.

2. She had dressed carefully ………. the dress matching the tone of her skin seemed to emphasize ………. green of her eyes.

3. Fanny Price coloured. The blood under her unhealthy skin seemed to be ………. strange purple.

4. The sky was ………. light, radiant blue, but, although it was only early afternoon, a mist was creeping on to the brilliant grass.

5. His eyes were large and blue, but ………. blue was very pale, and they looked rather tired already.

6. I have nice hair. It is black ………. red black, not dark brown.

7. The sun in the west was a drop of ………. burning gold that slid nearer and nearer the sill of the world.

8. I enjoyed the sensation of sitting quietly beside her and looking at ………. pale gold of her hair and ………. pale gold of her skin.

9. Ralph ignored Jack’s question. He pointed to the touch of ………. yellow above the sea.

10. There was a scent of honey from the lime trees in flower, and in the sky ………. blue was beautiful, with a few white clouds which looked and perhaps tasted like lemon ice.

11. He himself had always liked ………. French, feeling at home with their wit, their taste, their cooking.

12. He’s ………. Swiss, I believe.

13. I thought he was ………. Turkey as he spoke ………. fluent Turkish.

14. You can’t be a captain because you don’t know ………. Italian well enough.

15. I only write about what a beautiful place we live in and how brave ………. Italians are.

16. ………. Swiss are a very intelligent race and keenly alive to architectural beauty.

17. At dinner I ate very quickly and left for the villa where ………. British had their hospital.

18. I was obviously ………. German in Italian uniform.

19. You don’t understand ……….German, do you?

20. She wasn’t ………. Swede, like her husband.

21. It would be better to be in the study hall than out in ………. cold.

22. You’re too brave. Nothing ever happens to ………. brave. The coward tries a thousand deaths, ………. brave but one.

23. It was always your ambition to be a nurse and help ………. sick ever since you were a little child, wasn’t it?

24. Philip learned how little there was in common between ………. poor and classes above them.

25. Old Jolyon sighed; he had an insatiable appetite for ………. young.

26. We’ll be getting to Twelve Oaks in a little bit, and every man there, ………. old and ………. young, wanting to know about the horses.

27. His hair was ………. yellowish gray, his eyes small, watery orbs in his heavily lined face, and his bushy mustache drifted too far below his lip. (Rosenberg)

28. When you’ve lived the life we have, it’s better to expect ………. worst. (Rosenberg)

29. She sang in the choir at their church and every Saturday she could be found on the ghetto dispersing food to ………. homeless. (Rosenberg)

30. My husband could not right ………. wrongs with his brother so he transferred with guilt to someone else. (ibid.)

Exercise 3. Use the correct substantivised adjectives in the following sentences.

1. Stella closed her eyes and let her mind drift far into (past).(Rosenberg)

2. “Wait,” Brenda said, having saved (good) for (late). (ibid.)

3. (Relative) of (dead) had been awarded huge sums from the company. (ibid.)

4. Let’s say some of those men were legitimately injured, but they just couldn’t get their (superior) to classify them as disabled. (ibid.)

5. If you stop the game, the crowd will assume (bad) and panic. (ibid.)

6. Of all the places in Italy Mason had visited over the years Ravello ranked high of his list of (favourive). (Truman)

7. The Italian cultural attaché and the seniour were a study in (opposite): Mason looked every bit the professor, or gallery curator. (Rosenberg)

8. His tee was a palette of (red, green) and (yellow), his shoes highly polished black loafers with paper-thin soles. (ibid.)

9. As far as he was concerned, no one in the world – including any (Italian) – knew more about the artist than he did. (ibid.)

10. You and your (superior) have found the arrangements suggested to Carlo to be satisfactory. (ibid.)

11. They lunched at an outside table at Piccolo Mondo, on the Corso, the famous thoroughfare once used by ancient (Roman) for horse racing, now home to countless restaurants and cafes. (ibid.)

12. From what Annabel observed, everything had been worked out long ago; the visit was pro forma, the conversation with church (old) nothing more than a pleasant exchange about Caravaggio’s importance. (ibid.)

13. In art circles, (imaginable) is too often normal. (ibid.)

14. That was (late) I heard from him. (ibid.)

15. He’d been reticent in (past) about making public appearances. (Truman)

16. But as you know, (French) hate naming anything after a dead statesman. (ibid.)

17. It wasn’t long before his artfulness led him into (inevitable). (ibid.)

18. But recently he’d become consumed with that need, perhaps to compensate for large (wrong) he was in the process of perpetrating. (ibid.)

19. Cocktails were served in the Blue Room, one of the Mason’s (favourite), oval-shaped and approximately the same size as the Oval Office. (ibid.)

20. With his credentials and credibility, the fact that the priest might have stolen something in (past), and was defrocked, doesn’t mean too much. (ibid.)

21. I wish you and your excellent staff every success in (future). (ibid.)

22. If I were you, I’d take this very seriously and hope that it passes – but brace for (bad). (ibid.)

23. He searched for the phone in (dark) and put the receiver to his ear. (ibid.)

24. Just taking (bitter) with (sweet), as my father used to say. (ibid.)

25. (blond) saw Mac, stopped and pointed his revolver at him. (ibid.)

26. I should be there by six at (late). (Truman).

Exercise 4. Translate into English.

1. Прекрасное всегда радует глаз.

2. Небо было ярко-голубое.

3. Черный был определенно не его цвет.

4. Не стойте на холоде. Вы хотите заболеть?

5. Это были люди, которые посвятили себя изучению неизвестного.

6. У нее были темно-золотистые волосы, темно-коричневые глаза, а кожа бледно-золотистая.

7. Старые не всегда и даже большую часть времени не чувствуют себя старыми.

8. Элиза была прекрасна в черном и белом.

9. Мне нравится ваша седина на висках.

10. Они просили его о невозможном.

11. У нее были темно-голубые сердитые глаза.

12. Я полагаю, вы правы, все идет к лучшему.

13. Он принял неизбежное.

14. Большинство раненых были спокойны, но некоторые очень шумели.

15. Когда мы вместе работали, я делал вам много хорошего.

16. Он, бывало, вознаграждал добрых и наказывал жестоких.

17. У нее были необыкновенные способности смешивать главное со второстепенным.

18. Ее мысли были заняты будущим.

19. Джейн была высокая, смуглая и красивая. Она была одета в белое, а в ее черных волосах сияли бриллианты.

20. Они русские. Русские – прекрасный народ.

21. Говорят, он не швед, а болгарин.

22. Он хорошо говорил по-немецки, и гораздо хуже по-английски.

23. Я думал, что вы сказали, что он француз, так как он хорошо говорит по-французски.

24. “Не может быть, что вы англичанин, так как вы недостаточно хорошо знаете английский. Вы даже и не итальянец.” “Я чех, но я был в Италии”, сказал я, “и говорил по-итальянски.”

Exercise 5. Translate into English using various sentence patterns to express comparison.

1. Чем меньше ты будешь говорить, тем лучше.

2. К сожалению, я не смог прийти так рано, как обещал.

3. Кошка упала с крыши, но чувствует себя нисколько не хуже от этого.

4. Комната хорошая, но все же не такая хорошая, как бы мне хотелось.

5. Чем больше человек имеет, тем больше ему хочется.

6. Я не так молод, как вы.

7. Погода меняется к лучшему.

8. Окно узкое, как дверь.

9. Суп хорошо пахнет, а на вкус еще лучше.

10. Как пройти к ближайшей почте,

11. Если он поможет нам, тем лучше.

12. Если он не делает уроков, тем хуже для него.

13. Чем скорее ты сделаешь это, тем лучше.

14. Он становился все слабее и слабее.

15. На этот раз у вас меньше ошибок.

16. Эта комната в два раза меньше, чем та.

Exercise 6. Translate the following into English using substantivised adjectives where possible.

1. Слепых учат ремеслам, чтобы подготовить их для работы.

2. Требуются няни для ухода за ранеными.

3. После отъезда сына они перестали приглашать молодежь.

4. У входа в церковь стоял слепой.

5. Доктор хочет осмотреть раненого.

6. Молодежи нравится все делать по-своему.

7. Англичане любят чай.

8. В гостинице было много англичан.

9. Больной попросил воды.

10. Он считал, что его долгом было помочь бедняку.

11. Работа по спасению пострадавших продолжалась до глубокой ночи.

12. Ты говоришь как неграмотный человек.

13. Он всегда навещал больных два раза в день.

14. Он надеялся застать юношу еще дома.

15. Для безграмотных были организованы вечерние занятия.

16. Шестерых из пострадавших было разрешено взять домой.