Language development 2 > COURSEBOOK page 17, EXPERT GRAMMAR pages 182-183 Modifying adjectives and adverbs 1a Look at the table comparing the Olympic Games which were held in Athens, Beijing and. London. Are the statements below True (T) or False (F)? athletes (total) 11,099 athletes (wot 4306 athletes 6,793 aes : "fp 5 0 1 Slightly more athletes took part in the Olym, Games in London than in Bejing, 2 A far larger number of women than men tot in the London Olympics. 3 In Athens and Beijing, China won by far the m gold medals, 4 There were nat quite as many events in London as there were in Athens. 5 The UK won a lot more gold medals in London than in Athens. 6 There weren't nearly as many Chinese gold medallists in Athens as in Beijing. - 7 Atthe Athens Olympics, there were almost five times as many men athletes as women athletes, UK gold medallists seats in Olympic Stadium b Which phrases in the statements above express: 1 abig difference? 2 asmall difference? ¢ Use the information in the table and these prompts to write more correct sentences comparing the three Olympic Games. Choose one expression only from the words in brackets. 1 large / number of athletes / take part / Athens Olympics / London Olympics (slightly / much) thens | int lymnpics 2 the number of women / take part/ Beijing Olympics / small / London Olympics (a bit / a lot) 3 Beijing / organise / more / events / Athens (slightly / alot) Ulestyles 0 0 51 38 19 29 97,000 60,000 4 Athens / not organise / many / events / London (quite / nearly) 5 Ukathletes / successful / Beijing Olympics / London Olympics (not nearly / far) 6 Chinese athletes / do / worse / Athens Olympics / London Olympics (slightly / far) thletes / win / many / gold medals / Beijing / ‘ond@ (nearly / exactly) Olymle Stadium / London / big ¢ Olympic ng (nowhere near / lot) 7 Athens / small / Olympic Find and correct the sentences. Tick the ones t 1 The food | ate at that resrant in Beijing was the most spiciest | have eveFeaten 2. The first event we saw was far better one than the others 3 The opening ceremony in London was much more exciting that the ceremonies in Beijing or Sydney. 4 The fireworks for the London Olympics were by far the best | have ever seen. 5 Heis a more faster sprinter than all the other athletes, 6 The people in the town were not nearly as much friendly as the villagers 7 The stadium they are building must be just about the biggest stadium ever built. 8 Unfortunately, we didnt have nowhere near as much time to spend shopping in London as in Beijing.