Unit 3. The Highest Mountain in the World.

Grammar Material.
Dear student.

In the third unit of this English course, you will have the opportunity to learn about
superlatives to express the extreme or highest degree of a quality, and the verbs let,
make, help, have, get, want, ask and tell to talk about rules and discipline. Another
important topic you will study in this third unit is How + adjectives to ask about the
degree of quality that someone or something has. Also, you will study about the use of
the grammatical structures “used to” and “would” to talk about memories and how to
agree and disagree in English.

• Superlatives
• Questions with How + Adjective.
• Verbs let, make, help, have, get want, ask and tell.
• Used to and would.
• Agreeing and Disagreeing.
 LET’S BUILD KNOWLEDGE.

SUPERLATIVES

We use superlatives to express the high quality of someone or the quantity of

something among a group. In other words the superlatives are used to highlight
something or someone from the rest. Superlatives set people or things in the highest
or lowest level of something. Something relevant to know about superlatives is that
they are adjectives so that, we can’t use nouns with them. We need to have into account
the number of syllables the adjective has to make the superlative in one way or another.
The article ‘the’ is used before the superlative form.

how can we form superlatives?

ONE SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES.

When we have a one syllable adjective, we add ‘est’ at the end of the adjective to form
the superlative. It’s important to know that if the adjective ends in Consonant + Vowel
+ Consonant we double the last consonant.

big – The biggest. Short – The shortest

tall – The Tallest. Hot – The hottest.

TWO SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES ENDING IN ‘—Y’

If we have an adjective with two syllables and this adjective ends in ‘y’ we have to
change the ‘y’ for and ‘i’ and then add ‘est’.
 Lucky - The luckiest
Happy - The happiest
Busy - The busiest

REST OF TWO SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES.

There are irregular cases in which we form the superlative form using ‘most’ before
the adjective. Of course we have to use the article ‘the’ before the word ‘most’. These
are irregulares cases that are not cover for any rule.

Famous – The most famous.

Common – The most common.

In some special cases with two syllable adjectives, is possible to use ‘est’ or ‘most’ as
well. Look at this:

Quiet → the quietest / the most quiet

Clever → the cleverest / the most clever
Narrow → the narrowest / the most narrow
Simple → the simplest / the most simple

THREE OR MORE SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES

When we have a three or more syllables adjective, we always use ‘the most’ to make
the superlative form.

Beautiful – The most beautiful.

Intelligent – The most intelligent.
 IRREGULAR SUPERLATIVES

Irregulares cases are always common to find. Many grammar rules in English have
exceptions such as the following:

QUESTIONS WITH HOW + ADJECTIVES / ADVERBS

We use this type of questions to ask about the degree of a quality that someone or
something has: How tall / how good / how Deep / how hot / how wide / how long / how
well / how big / how high…?

1. How tall is Harold?

2. How Deep is the Caribbean sea?
3. How hot is the Surface of the Sun?
4. How well do you know your country?
 5. How wide does Magdalena river get?
6. How high is Mount Everest?
7. How fast can Usain Bolt run?

How long: To ask about a period of time.

How far: To ask about the distance from one place to another.

How often: To ask about the number of times something happen.

How much: To ask about the price of something. With uncountable nouns to ask
about the amount of something.

How many: With plural nouns to ask about numbers.

How old: To ask about someone or something’s age.

VERBS TO PUT RULES AND DISCIPLINE

This time we are going to use the verbs ASK / GET / HAVE / LET / MAKE / HELP /
WANT / TELL to talk about rules and discipline.
 let / make / help / have + object + verb:

1. My Uncle won't let me stay out late.

2. My mother makes me wash the dishes when I finish my lunch.
3. My sister never helps me with my school homework.
4. My father has me do my homework after school.

get / want / ask / tell + object + to + verb:

1. She can't get him to clean up the house.

2. My friends want me to go to the party.
3. I have to ask him to drive me to school.
4. My mother is always telling me to slow down.

USED TO AND WOULD

USED TO
The expression “used to” shows the idea that something was an old habit that stopped
in the past. Its usage indicates that something was often done in the past, but not done
now.

1. Dominic used to sleep in his parents bed when he was scary.

2. Tom and my brother used to play Xbox 360 every Saturday night.
3. I used to start to work at 6 am every Monday.
4. Justin used to eat meat, but now he is a vegetarian.

The grammatical structure “used to” can be used to talk about past facts or
generalizations which are no longer true as well.

1. She used to live in England.

2. John used to be thin, but now he is fat.
3. Kevin used to be the best soccer player at college, but now George is the best.
4. Apples used to cost very expensive in Colombia, but now they are cheap.

LOOK AT THIS…
 WOULD

the same way we use the expression 'used to' and the Past Simple, 'would' with 'always'
suggests an old habit that stopped in the past. On the other hand 'used to' or the Past
Simple 'would always' suggests a willingness to do the action and /or annoyance. It can
also suggest an extreme habit. The opposite is expressed with 'would never'.

1. My Uncle would always get me some clothes for my birthday.

2. My father would always come early to work on fridays.
3. Daniel would not always come out with us.
4. Laura would always end up in a relationship with the most intelligent men.
5. Ton and Jennifer would not always go abroad for christmas.
 AGREEING AND DISAGREEING

In one moment of our lives we will get the urge to agree or disagree with somebody.
For this reason the best thing we can do is to learn some common expressions that are
used in discussions and debates, in order to know how to agree or disagree with
somebody else. ‘So’, ‘too’, ‘neither’ and ‘either’, are the most common words in English
we use to express agreement or disagreement. Let’s study them.

SO

The word ‘so’ is used to be in agreement with somebody else in a positive way. The use
of ‘too’ at the end of a sentence, it is similar to using ‘so’.

Look at this:

So + Auxiliary / Be + Subject pronoun.

 I am hungry. So am I I am hungry too
I am going to have lunch So am I I am going to have lunch too
I love soccer So do I I love soccer too
I went to Brazil last year So did I I went to brazil last year too
I ‘ve finished my homework So have I I have finished too
I had worked too much So had I I had worked too much too

NEITHER

The word ‘Neither’ is used to express agreement in a negative way. The use of ‘Either’
at the end of a sentence, is similar to using ‘Neither’. It is quite important to know that
’Neither’ is more commonly used in spoken English for that reason, it’s possible to say
‘Me Neither’ instead of Neither am I / neither can I / neither did I.

Look at this:

Neither + Auxiliary + Subject pronoun

I am not happy Neither am I I am not happy either

I am not going to have lunch Neither am I I’m not going to have lunch either

I don’t like soccer Neither do I I don’t like soccer either

I didn’t go to L.A last year Neither did I I didn’t go either
I haven’t finished my task Neither have I I haven’t finished either
I can’t run too fast Neither can I I can’t run fast either
Summary Charts