13/12/12

Grammar focus: Complex adjectives / adjective lists

Here is a table with some basic adjectives and their rather more sophisticated synonyms. Put them in the correct order.

thin (nice)	drab, hideous, unsightly, frightful, plain, awful
happy	lovely, magnificent, marvelous, stunning, exquisite
beautiful (things)	cheerful, delighted, upbeat, chipper, jolly
few	dejected, despondent, dismal, downcast, bleak
ugly (things)	petite, slender, slight, slim
fat (nice)	scrawny, emaciated, haggard, skinny
unhappy	well-built, stocky, plump, chubby
many	flabby, obese
thin (not nice)	colossal, humongous, immense, mammoth, massive
fat (not nice)	puny, scrawny, minuscule, tiny, diminutive
big	sparse, meager, paltry, scarce
small	abundant, substantial, numerous, bountiful, ample

Order of Adjectives

Look at the sentence below. What category does each adjective fall into?

Think of a category for each.

Yesterday I bought a beautiful, small, new, pink, French, plastic, hair brush.

There's a great, big, hairy, black spider in my bedroom!

beautiful/great – 

small/big/hairy – 

new – 

pink/black – 

French – 

plastic – 

hair – 

So the correct order of adjectives is...?

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   

Controlled Practice

Place the following descriptions in the correct order 

1. pink, silly, Hello Kitty ball
2. scratch-proof, new, sleek iPad
3. 3-week old, rotten, smelly pear
4. intelligent, young, beautiful French woman
5. South African, hand-made, fascinating rug
6. golden, ancient, tiny coin
7. vintage, Italian, sports, incredible car
8. flatscreen, brand new, HD TV
9. busy, high-level, American executive
10. delicious, mocca, frothy coffee

Complete the Table with the correct Order of Adjectives

Compete the table, by adding more adjectives to each category:

Opinion	Appearance	Age	Colour	Origin	Material
ridiculous	rectangular	antiquated	striped	beach	plastic
beautiful	big	new	red	Spanish	wooden

Language focus: Talking about travelling 

Look at the pics below. Brainstorm adjectives for each: 

 You work in the marketing department of a big travel agency who are going to start offering package holidays to the above destinations.

 For each holiday write an advert.You will have to use a lot of positive descriptions to sell your product!

Speaking activity:

Conversation roleplay

Student A:	You want to take your wife/husband on a trip this weekend. First, decide where you want to go. Then, phone your travel agent to reserve a plane ticket and hotel. Also, ask for recommendations of things to do there.
Student B:	You are a travel agent. Student A will soon phone you. Try to sell him/her one of the below travel packages. (He/she will tell you the destination.) Option 1: round-trip, first class, $950. Hotel: Hilton, $250/night, ***** Option 2: round-trip, economy class, $310. Hotel: Doug’s Inn, $99/night, ***