This will be the last blog post until after spring break. Take your time off to to do the activities in previous posts.
Review from last week
WOD: cut down on (reduce; decrease the amount of something); drop in on (visit someone unexpectedly)
POD: give someone the cold shoulder (be intentionally unfriendly towards someone; ignore);
let the cat out of the bag (reveal a secret, usually by mistake)
Quizlet Review
Practice all of the words of the day and phrases of the day from the last six weeks.
Coordinating Conjunction Review
2-Part Activity (submit your answers to check)
Unstressed Vowel Sound - Schwa
The Schwa Sound (video and audio practice)
Heroes and History: First Ladies of the U.S. (Reading and Listening)
Make sure you take home a newspaper so you can follow along with the audio. You will find the article "First Ladies of the U.S." in the March Easy English News newspaper. Listen to the audio as you read along.
Speaking English Conversation Practice
In the video below, you will hear several short conversations in English about different topics. You can listen and pause the video to practice "shadowing", or repeating, what you hear. This is an excellent way to work on your stress and intonation.
What are Extreme Adjectives in English?
These are words that can make your speech and writing more interesting and complex.
“Cold” is a regular adjective, and “freezing” is an extreme adjective.
Adjectives are words that describe the qualities of something. Some adjectives in English are gradable – that means you can have different degrees or levels of that quality. For example, the weather can be a little cold, rather cold, very cold, or extremely cold.
Extreme adjectives or non-gradable adjectives are words that mean “extremely + adjective” – for example, “freezing” means “extremely cold.” The weather can’t be “a little bit freezing” or “very freezing” – because the word “freezing” itself automatically means “extremely cold.”
Regular & Extreme Adjectives List
| Regular Adjective | Extreme Adjective |
| angry | furious |
| bad | awful, terrible, horrible |
| big | huge, gigantic, giant |
| clean | spotless |
| cold | freezing |
| crowded | packed |
| dirty | filthy |
| funny | hilarious |
| good | wonderful, fantastic, excellent |
| hot | boiling |
| hungry | starving |
| interesting | fascinating |
| old | ancient |
| pretty | gorgeous |
| scary | terrifying |
| small | tiny |
| surprising | astounding |
| tired | exhausted |
| ugly | hideous |
Special Rules For Extreme Adjectives
1) NO COMPARATIVES/SUPERLATIVES.
With regular adjectives, we can use comparatives and superlatives to compare two or more things:
- My house is big.
- My neighbor’s house is bigger than mine.
(comparative) - My parents’ house is the biggest house on the street.
(superlative)
With extreme adjectives, we don’t use comparatives and superlatives:
- My parents’ house is enormous.
- My parents’ house is more enormous / the most enormous.
2) USE DIFFERENT ADVERBS WITH EXTREME ADJECTIVES.
With regular adjectives, we can use these adverbs:
- a little, a bit, slightly, fairly, rather
- very, extremely, immensely, intensely, hugely
Examples:
- I’m rather hungry. / I’m very hungry.
- This room is a bit dirty. / This room is extremely dirty.
- We’re a little tired. / We’re immensely tired.
With extreme adjectives, we CANNOT use these adverbs:
- I’m rather starving. / I’m extremely starving.
However, there are other adverbs we can use to give additional emphasis to the extreme adjective:
- absolutely
- completely
- utterly
Examples:
- I’m absolutely furious.
- We’re completely exhausted.
- The movie was utterly terrifying.
The words pretty and really can be used with both regular and extreme adjectives:
- This room is pretty dirty. (regular)
- This room is pretty filthy. (extreme)
- The party is really crowded. (regular)
- The party is really packed. (extreme)
Absolute Adjectives
Another type of extreme adjective is called an “absolute” adjective.
These are words that are either “yes or no.” For example, dead – you can’t be “a little bit dead” or “very dead” – either YES, you are dead, or NO, you’re not dead.
Here’s a list of absolute adjectives and their opposites (this list is not complete; it only shows some examples):
| Absolute Adjective | Opposite |
| complete | incomplete |
| equal | unequal |
| essential | non-essential; extraneous |
| dead | alive |
| fatal | not fatal |
| first | last / final |
| full | empty |
| ideal | not ideal |
| impossible | possible |
| infinite | finite |
| married | single / divorced / separated / widowed |
| perfect | imperfect |
| pregnant | not pregnant |
| unique | not unique |
| universal | not universal |
| unknown | known |
| true | false |
