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INGLÉS
ANUAL UNI
Adjective II
As … as
We use as + adjective/adverb + as to make comparisons when the things we are comparing are equal in
some way:
The world’s biggest bull is as big as a small elephant.
The weather this summer is as bad as last year. It hasn’t stopped raining for weeks.
You have to unwrap it as carefully as you can. It’s quite fragile.

Not as … as
We use not as … as to make comparisons between things which aren’t equal:
It’s not as heavy as I thought it would be, actually.
Rory hasn’t grown as tall as Tommy yet.
She’s not singing as loudly as she can.
They didn’t play as well as they usually do.

We can modify not as … as by using not quite as or not nearly as:

The second race was not quite as easy as the first one. (The second race was easy but the first one was
easier.)
These new shoes are not nearly as comfortable as my old ones. (My old shoes are a lot more comforta-
ble than these new shoes.)

We can also use not so … as. Not so … as is less common than not as … as:
The cycling was good but not so hard as the cross country skiing we did.

As … as + possibility
We often use expressions of possibility or ability after as … as:
Can you come as soon as possible?
Go to as many places as you can.
We got here as fast as we could.
As much as, as many as

When we want to make comparisons referring to quantity, we use as much as with uncountable nouns
and as many as with plural nouns:
Greg makes as much money as Mick but not as much as Neil.
They try to give them as much freedom as they can.
There weren’t as many people there as I expected.

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We can use as much as and as many as before a number to refer to a large number of something:
Scientists have discovered a planet which weighs as much as 2,500 times the weight of Earth.
There were as many as 50 people crowded into the tiny room.
Too + adjective
Too is an adverb.

Too meaning ‘more than enough’

We use too meaning ‘more than enough’ in different positions.
Too before adjectives and adverbs
We use too immediately before adjectives and adverbs:
This coffee is too sweet.
Not: This coffee is too much sweet.
I can’t sleep. It’s too hot.
It happened too quickly, so I just didn’t see it.
Not: It happened too much quickly.
The car was travelling too fast and went out of control.
Too before adjective/adverb + to-infinitive
The water was too cold to swim in.
Two hours is too long to wait.

Too much, too many, too few and too little

When we want to talk about quantities which are more or less than enough, we use too much, too many,
too few and too little before a noun:
There’s too much salt in this soup. (too much + uncountable noun)
There were too many dogs on the beach. (too many + countable noun)
I don’t like this book because there are too few pictures in it. (too few + countable noun; more formal than
I don’t like this book because there aren’t enough pictures in it.)
The trip was cancelled because there was too little interest in it. (too little + uncountable noun)

Much too and far too

We can use much and far with too for emphasis. Far too is stronger than much too:

Too and very

We use very to add emphasis to an adjective or an adverb, but it does not mean the same as too.

Compare

She is very careful. Very makes careful stronger.

She is too careful. Too careful means ‘more careful than is necessary’.

Very much and too much

We often use very much to emphasize verbs such as like, dislike, hope, doubt. We do not use too much in
this way with these verbs:

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I like it very much because I got it from my husband.
Not: I like it too much …
I doubt very much that Ronan will be able to come to the party.
Not: I doubt too much that …

Too bad

Spoken English:
In speaking, we can use too bad or that’s too bad as a response token to express that we are sorry to hear
about something. This is particularly common in American English:
A: The weather forecast says it’s going to rain again on Wednesday.
B: Too bad. We were planning to go for a picnic.
A: How’s your mother?
B: She’s okay but she’s feeling lonely because she lives on her own now.
A: That’s too bad. Does she have many friends living nearby?

Order of adjectives
When more than one adjective comes before a noun, the adjectives are normally in a particular order.
Adjectives which describe opinions or attitudes (e.g. amazing) usually come first, before more neutral,
factual ones (e.g. red):
She was wearing an amazing red coat.
Not: … red amazing coat
If we don’t want to emphasize any one of the adjectives, the most usual sequence of adjectives is:

order relating to examples

1 opinion unusual, lovely, beautiful
2 size big, small, tall
3 physical quality thin, rough, untidy
4 shape round, square, rectangular
5 age young, old, youthful
6 color blue, red, pink
7 origin Dutch, Japanese, Turkish
8 material metal, wood, plastic
9 type general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped
10 purpose cleaning, hammering, cooking

It was made of a 1 strange, 6 green, 8 metallic material.

It’s a 2 long, 4 narrow, 8 plastic brush.
Panettone is a 4 round, 7 Italian, 9 bread-like Christmas cake.

Here are some invented examples of longer adjective phrases. A noun phrase which included all these
types would be extremely rare.

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She was a 1 beautiful, 2 tall, 3 thin, 5 young, 6 black-haired, 7 Scottish woman.

What an 1 amazing, 2 little, 5 old, 7 Chinese cup and saucer!

Adjectives joined by and

When more than one adjective occurs after a verb such as be (a linking verb), the second last adjective is
normally connected to the last adjective by and:
Home was always a warm, welcoming place. Now it is sad, dark and cold.
And is less common when more than one adjective comes before the noun (e.g. a warm, welcoming
place). However, we can use and when there are two or more adjectives of the same type, or when the
adjectives refer to different parts of the same thing:
It was a blue and green cotton shirt.

Exercises
1. Let me know if you hear any ___ news. 5. Can’t you type ___?

A) many A) shortly
B) more B) more carefully
C) most C) hardly
D) the most D) nearly
E) much E) completely

2. It’s ___ weather anyone can remember. 6. The teacher said that the results of our tests
were not good. She added that ___ of all was
A) better mine.
B) the worst
C) bad A) bad
D) worse B) better
E) least C) worse
D) good
3. I think the cotton of Peru is one of ___ in the E) the worst
world.
7. Which season is ___ in Peru?
A) better
B) good A) rainy
C) the best B) the rainiest
C) most rainy
D) longer
D) more rainy
E) richer
E) raining
4. I have done ___ part of my homework.
8. ___ I can stay is three hours.

A) difficult A) Long
B) more difficult B) Longer
C) most difficult C) More longer
D) the most difficult D) The longest
E) the difficultiest E) Much longer

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9. Unfortunately her disease was ___ than we 11. Vatican is ___ country in Europe.
thought at first.
A) less
A) more serious B) the smallest
B) serious C) smaller
C) the most serious D) greater
D) most serious E) small
E) the more serious
12. It’s ___ today ___ it was yesterday.
10. This is ___ clown I’ve ever seen.
A) a little warmer / that
A) good
B) little warm / than
B) better
C) more warmer / that
C) the best
D) well D) a little warmer / than
E) bad E) the warmest / than

01- B 03- C 05- B 07- B 09- A 11- B

02- B 04- D 06- E 08- D 10- C 12- D 5