Gradability

10.16

by K S

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Have you ever made friends on the internet? (via games, forums, etc.)

How did it happen?

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What are the pros and cons of social networking sites?

​Love on the Internet

​8 gaps

​

​Good luck

One question that follows the story

Poll

At the beginning and end of the first paragraph we see extremely affectionate and completely devastating, can we say extremely devastating and completely affectionate?

• Ofc yeah!

• Not really

• I don't know but I menged one from the first two

• Meh...

​devastating is ...

​an extreme adjective.

It means very very very harmful.

​So we can't say extremely very very very harmful.

​

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Now think of all the extreme adjectives that you know. Let's see how many you can come up with.

To an extreme adjective,

​there is no way we can still grade it.

​Say, staying up late occasionally is a bit harmful and if it gets to 3 o'clock in the morning and 5 days a week for two years, it's very harmful to your health. But we can never say: 'It's alright, the flood only killed like 40 people so it's only a little devastating.'

​So we also call these extreme adjectives

​non-gradable adjectives

​or ungradable adjectives

​meaning that the cannot be graded

​there are two other types of NGAs

​I'll give you some to start with and you try to give me more.

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Type 1: wooden, iron, biological, mountainous, female, etc.

​They are called ...

​classifying adjectives.

​We use them to classify things as a certain type.

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Type 2: wrong, dead, complete, empty, first, etc.

​They are called ...

​Absolute adjectives.

​Either this or that, never in the middle.

​Recap

Extreme

​

Classifying​

​

​Absolute

​

​And we've just got started

​The next is important ...

Each of the adjectives ...

​should be intensified/modified with a special, non-grading adverb.

​

​Here are some examples

​

​then finish task 3 on page 87

​Good luck!

Multiple Choice

1. entirely

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

2. fairly

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

3. immensely

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

4. pretty

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

5. quite

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

6. rather

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

7. really

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

8. utterly

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

9. very

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

10. absolutely

• A

• B

• AB

Multiple Choice

11. deep

• A

• B

• AB

​Now, more collocations

​Task 4

5 minutes

​

​Good luck!

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

​Strictly this or that?

​Lots of adjectives are used in both ways, though with a change in meaning.

​

​

​Now you decide ...

​figurative vs. literal

​

​formal vs. informal

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a1. I couldn't get to the market today, so we'll have to use frozen spinach instead,

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a2. It's minus 15 outside and I had to walk home - I'm absolutely frozen!

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b1. Your glass is empty. Shall I get you another drink?

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b2. Margit's life is totally empty without him.

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c1. Brad won't listen to me - he's being utterly impossible!

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c2. It was impossible to drive the car as all four tyres were flaat.

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d1. The crowd went absolutely insane when the band came on stage.

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d2. He was finally diagnosed as insane and remained in an institution until his death.

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e1. Right now, Shirley feels she has an utterly bleak future ahead of her

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e2. The house stands on a bleak, windswept moor and is very isolated.

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f1. They eventually dished up a pretty tasteless bowl of lukewarm soup.

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f2. George's jokes in the wedding speech were fairly tasteless in my view.

​Making Contact in Tomorrow's World

​Lovegety