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Hello, it's Ray Winstone.
I'm here to tell you about my podcast on BBC Radio 4, History's Toughest Heroes.
I've got stories about the pioneers, the rebels, the outcasts who define tough.
And that was the first time anybody ever ran a car up that fast with no tires on.
It almost feels like your eyeballs are going to come out of your head.
Tough enough for you?
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These are all topics you'll discover in The Reading Room, our new series of magazine-style articles on our website.
They each come with highlighted vocabulary, comprehension questions and an audio download.
And we wanted to live in an older house rather than a new house when we decided to buy our house.
So I like my really old house, even though it's cold and falling down.
I used a property website where you put in details such as schools and distance from places that you want to go.
And it directed me to a part of London that I had never even heard of.
Hello and welcome to Learning English Grammar.
I'm Beth.
And I'm Phil.
We've just heard Pippa and Neil talking about how they chose where to live and how they compared different places.
Today we're looking at the grammar of comparisons, and it's not just about whether to use more or an ER word.
We're going to take it to the next level.
Now you can read along with this podcast using the transcript on our website, bbclearningenglishcom.
So, Phil, why did you choose to live where you live now?
OK well, we needed a house that was big enough to fit two teenagers and two people working from home.
And we also wanted to live somewhere a bit safer and nicer.
What about you?
Why did you choose to live where you do?
Well, it was all about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and then also the price.
So then we found the perfect house.
Ah, fantastic.
Well, we spoke to Pippa and Neil and asked them about where they live and why they chose to live there.
As you listen, listen out for any comparative adjectives.
Those are the ones that either end in er or have more in front of them.
Listen for what other words are around them.
So my house is a lot older than most of the places I've lived.
So it is over 100 years old.
It's also smaller than a lot of places I've lived.
It's just a little terraced house.
But it's really cosy.
And yeah, I really like it. that house was closer to the school that we wanted the kids to go to.
Um, it was also easier to get into London for me, into central London for work.
Um, The area seemed, or the street seemed, a bit quieter than other ones that I'd looked at, and the house seemed to be in a sort of better condition.
So, I heard Pippa and Neil say older, smaller, closer, quieter, and better.
Yes, I heard those two and around them I heard a lot, a bit and a sort of.
I think we should get someone to tell us more about comparisons.
Who could you possibly mean?
Comparisons, you said.
Nothing a grammar guru can't help you with.
Let's hear how we can modify comparative adjectives, make them stronger or weaker.
So, we often want to grade comparisons.
That means say how big or small a difference is.
An elephant is bigger than a cat, but so is a dog.
It's not the whole story.
One way to do this is to use words like much or slightly.
An elephant is much bigger than a cat.
A dog is slightly bigger than a cat.
We actually heard some different ways to do this from Pippa and Neil.
So my house is a lot older than most of the places I've lived.
So it is over 100 years old.
The area seemed, or the street seemed a bit quieter than other ones that I'd looked at.
And the house seemed to be in a sort of better condition.
I heard a lot older, a bit quieter and a sort of better condition.
Yes, these might be slightly informal.
We use them a lot when we're speaking.
We can use a lot to say that there's a big difference.
We use a bit if it's not a big difference.
Neil's street is slightly quieter than the ones he had seen before.
Neil said the house seemed to be in a sort of better condition.
Sort of can often mean the same as a bit.
Thanks.
There's also something else that we need you for, Georgie.
It's easy to make a comparison, saying something like London is bigger than Manchester, but it's not only nouns that we can put after than is it.
No, you're right.
You can actually have a whole clause after than.
And that's what Pippa and Neil did.
Listen for what comes after the word than.
So my house is a lot older than most of the places I've lived.
Well, the street seemed a bit quieter than other ones that I'd looked at.
Neil compared his street to the other ones that he had looked at.
There's a whole clause there.
Notice that Pippa compared her house to the places she'd lived.
That's a reduced clause.
It could have been the places where she'd lived, but we often use reduced clauses after the word than in comparisons.
Great.
Thanks, Georgie.
No problem.
I'm always happy to help with grammar questions.
See you next time.
Bye.
OK, so let's recap.
When we're using comparative adjectives, we can modify them with a bit, a lot and sort of.
Also, remember that we can use comparative adjective structures with clauses.
OK, Beth, let's play a game to practice what we've learnt.
I'm going to describe an animal using a comparative structure, and you have to guess which one I mean.
If you're listening, you can play along.
Try to guess before Beth.
Are you ready, Beth?
I am.
I'm excited.
This animal is a lot larger than the other animals that live in the water.
Ooh, I think it's a whale, a blue whale.
Excellent, yes.
This animal is an animal that people ride on, but it lives in a place that is a lot hotter and drier than most places.
Aha, so it's not a horse.
Although it could be a horse, but I think it's a camel.
It is a camel.
Finally, this is a bird and it's a lot bigger than other birds.
Is it an ostrich?
It is an ostrich.
Yay!
What do you think is the most important thing when choosing where to live?
Let us know by emailing us at learningenglish at bbc.co.uk That's it for this episode.
We've learnt that Pippa loves old houses.
And that Neil loves peace and quiet.
We'll be back next week to learn some more grammar tips.
In the meantime, you can test what you've learnt in this episode with the worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglishcom.
Goodbye for now.
Bye.
Hello, it's Ray Winstone.
I'm here to tell you about my podcast on BBC Radio 4, History's Toughest Heroes.
I've got stories about the pioneers, the rebels, the outcasts who define tough.
And that was the first time that anybody ever ran a car up that fast with no tires on.
It almost feels like your eyeballs are going to come out of your head.
Tough enough for you?
Subscribe to History's Toughest Heroes wherever you get your podcast.
