comparative and superlative

Comparative


Which country is bigger Russia or china? Russia is bigger than china
Which country is smaller Nigeria or Cameroon? Cameroon is smaller than Nigeria
Which country is colder Canada or Italy? Canada is colder than Italy
Which country is more dangerous new York or Texas? New York is more dangerous than texas
Which celebration are more exciting the new year celebration or valentine’s day celebration? The new year celebration are more exciting than valentine’s day celebration
Which are more expensive the desktop computer or laptop? The laptop are more expensive than he desktop computer
Which country is more populated china or India? China is more populated than India
Which river is longer, the Nile or Amazon? The river nile is longer than the river amazon


Weather
Comparative/ superlative
sunny sunnier / The sunniest
Hot Hotter / The hottest
cloudy cloudier / The cloudies
twet wetter / The wettest
dry drier / The driest

Big Ben

Big Ben

Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell of Westminster, the hour bell of the Great Clock, hanging in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom.

One theory holds that the bell was named "Big Ben" after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works. Another theory suggests that at the time anything which was heaviest of its kind was called "Big Ben" after the then-famous prizefighter Benjamin Caunt, making it a natural name for the bell.

Big Ben is commonly taken to be the name of the clock tower itself, but this is incorrect - the tower is simply known as The Clock Tower. Sometimes, the tower is referred to as St. Stephen's Tower, but this title is not used by staff of the Palace of Westminster.

The bell weighs 13.8 tonnes (13 tons 10cwt 99lb), with a striking hammer weighing 203.2kg (4cwt), and was originally tuned to E. There is delay of 5 seconds between strikes. It is a common misconception that Big Ben is the heaviest bell in Britain. In fact, it is only the third heaviest, the second heaviest being Great George found at Liverpool Cathedral (14 tons 15cwt 2qr 2lb) and the heaviest being Great Paul found at St Paul's Cathedral (16 tons 14cwt 2qt 19lb).

The original tower designs demanded a 14 ton bell to be struck with a 6cwt hammer. A bell was produced by John Warner and Sons in 1856, weighing 16 tons. However, this cracked under test in the Palace Yard. The contract for the bell was then given to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, who in 1858 re-cast the bell into the 13 ton bell used today. It too started to crack under the 6cwt hammer, and a legal battle arose. After two years of having the Great Bell out of commission, the 6cwt hammer was replaced with a lighter 4cwt hammer, and the bell itself was turned 90 degrees so the crack would not develop any further, coming back into use in 1862. However, the crack, now filled, and the turn meant that it no longer struck a true E.

The belfry also houses four quarter bells which play the Westminster Chimes, derived from Handel's Messiah, on the quarter hours. The C note in the chime is repeated twice in quick succession, faster than the chiming train can draw back the hammers, so the C bell uses two separate hammers.

Reliability

The clock is famous for its reliability. This is due to its designer, the lawyer and amateur horologist Edmund Beckett Denison, later Lord Grimthorpe. As the clock mechanism, created to Denison's specification by clockmaker Edward John Dent, was completed before the tower itself was finished, Denison had time to experiment with the clock. Instead of using the deadbeat escapement and remontoire as originally designed, Denison invented the double three legged gravity escapement. This escapement provides the best separation between pendulum and clock mechanism. Together with an enclosed, wind-proof box sunk beneath the clockroom, the Great Clock's pendulum is well isolated from external factors like snow, ice and pigeons on the clock hands, and keeps remarkably accurate time.

The clock had its first and only major breakdown in 1975. The famous quarter bells broke in late April 2004, and were reactivated again on May 9. During this time BBC Radio Four had to make do with the pips.

The idiom of putting a penny on, with the meaning of slowing down, sprung from the method of fine-tuning the clock's pendulum by adding or subtracting penny-coins. Even to this day, only old pennies, phased out of British currency during the 1971 Decimalization, are used.

A 20-foot metal replica of the clock tower known as Little Ben, complete with working clock, stands on a traffic island close to Victoria Station. Several turret clocks around the world are inspired by the look of the Great Clock, including the clock tower of the Gare de Lyon in Paris and the Peace Tower of the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa.

Culture

Big Ben is a focus of New Year celebrations in the UK, with radio and TV stations tuning to its chimes to welcome the 'official' start of the year. Similarly, on Remembrance Day, the chimes of Big Ben are broadcast to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and the start of two minutes silence.

For many years ITN's "News at Ten" began with an opening sequence which featured Big Ben with the chimes punctuating the anouncement of the news headlines. This has since been dropped, but all ITV1 and ITV News Channel bulletins still use a graphic based on the Westminster clock face. Big Ben can also be heard striking the hour before some news bulletins on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, a practice that began on December 31, 1923.

The clock features in John Buchan's spy novel The Thirty-Nine Steps and makes for a memorable climax in Don Sharp's 1978 film version, although not in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 original adaptation. A similar scene is recreated in the 2003 film, Shanghai Knights which culminates with Jackie Chan hanging from the hands of the clock. The clock also appears in the animated cartoon Basil, the Great Mouse Detective.

An earlier film climax on the clock face of Big Ben appears in Will Hay's 1943 film My Learned Friend, although the scene is more slapstick than thriller.

Questions about the text

1. The Palace of Westminster is where the Houses of Parliament reside.

True.

False.

We don't know.

2. Great George, the bell at Liverpool Cathedral is heavier than Big Ben.

True.

False.

We don't know.

3. How many quarter bells are there in the belfry?

Three.

Four.

Five.

4. When did the clock break down?

1975.

1971.

1923.

5. Little Ben looks exactly like Big Ben.

True.

False.

We don't know.

6. BBC Radio started broadcasting the chimes on news bulletins in

1923.

1935.

1978.

7. The clock was never used for any film.

True.

False.

We don't know.

*

Exercise on Comparison of Adjectives

Fill in the correct form of the words in brackets (comparative or superlative).


1. My house is (big) BIGGER than yours.

2. This flower is (beautiful) MORE BEAUTIFUL than that one.

3. This is the (interesting) MORE INTERESTING book I have ever read.

4. Non-smokers usually live (long) LONGER than smokers.

5. Which is the (dangerous) MORE DANGEROUS animal in the world?

6. A holiday by the sea is (good) BETTER than a holiday in the mountains.

7. It is strange but often a coke is (expensive) MORE EXPENSIVE than a beer.

8. Who is the (rich) RICHER woman on earth?

9. The weather this summer is even (bad) BADER than last summer.

10. He was the (clever) MORE CELEVER thief of all.

*

comparative form of these adverbs and adjectives

What is the comparative form of these adverbs and adjectives?




big
a)biger
b)bigger
c)more big


expensive
a)expensive
b)expensiveer
c)more expensive


red
a)reder
b)redder
c) more red


tall
a)taller
b)taler
c)more tall


intelligent
a)intelligenter
b)intelligentier
c)more intelligent


stupid
a)stupider
b)stupidder
c)more stupid


lazy
a)lazyer
b)lazier
c)more lazy


good
a)gooder
b)better
c)more good


bad
a)badder
b)worse
c)more


badslowly
a)slowlyer
b)slowlier
c)more slowly


little
a)littler
b)less
c)more little


fast(adjective)
a)faster
b)fastlier
c)more fast


fast (adverb)
a)faster
b)fastlier
c)more


fastshort
a)shorter
b)shortier
c)more short


happy
a)happyer
b)happier
c)more happy


beautiful
a)beautifuler
b)beautifuller
c)more beautiful

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Your score is 100%.

Questions answered correctly first time: 20/20

You have completed the exercise.

Show questions one by one

1. The United Kingdom is made up of...

A. ? England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

B. :-) England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

C. ? England, Scotland and Wales.

D. ? England, Scotland, Wales and France.

2. The full name of the United Kingdom is...

A. :-) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

B. ? United Kingdom of Northern Britain and Great Ireland.

C. ? United Kingdom of Great Britain and Southern Ireland.

D. ? United Kingdom of Northern Britain and Southern Ireland.

3. What is the population of the United Kingdom?

A. :-) About sixty million people.

B. ? About sixteen million people.

C. ? About six hundred people.

D. ? About six people.

4. Cornish is spoken in...

A. ? Wales

B. :-) Cornwall

C. ? London

D. ? Scotland

5. What is the name of the national anthem?

A. ? God Blame the Queen

B. ? God Save the Prince

C. :-) God Save the Queen

D. ? God Save the United Kingdom

6. Wales was taken over by England in the...

A. ? eighteenth century.

B. ? sixteenth century.

C. ? fourteenth century.

D. :-) thirteenth century.

7. When was the Irish Free State created?

A. :-) 1922

B. ? 1976

C. ? 1943

D. ? 1921

8. In World War II Britain was bombed by...

A. ? Spain.

B. ? Portugal.

C. :-) Germany.

D. ? the United States of America.

9. When did Elizabeth II become Queen?

A. ? 1972

B. :-) 1952

C. ? 1962

D. ? 1942

10. The capital city of the United Kingdom is...

london

11. What is the name of the river that flows through London?

A. ? Severn

B. ? Trent

C. :-) Thames

D. ? Tweed

12. Who is the current Prime Minister?

A. ? Winston Churchill

B. :-) Gordon Brown

C. ? Tony Blair

D. ? Margaret Thatcher

13. The United Kingdom is a(n) ...

A. ? Dictatorship

B. ? Anarchy

C. ? Absolute Monarchy

D. :-) Constitutional Monarchy

14. Gordon Brown is the leader of the...

A. ? Conservative Party

B. :-) Labour Party

C. ? Liberal Democrats

D. ? Democratic Unionist Party

15. The United Kingdom is a member of the...

A. ? European Union

B. ? NATO

C. ? World Trade Organization

D. :-) All of the above

16. Who wrote the play "Romeo and Juliet"?

A. ? Jane Austen

B. :-) William Shakespeare

C. ? Dylan Thomas

D. ? H. G. Wells

17. Who wrote the Sherlock Holmes detective novels?

A. ? Charles Dickens

B. ? William Shakespeare

C. :-) Arthur Conan Doyle

D. ? J. R. R. Tolkien

18. Where was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Born?

A. ? London

B. ? Cardiff

C. :-) Edinburgh

D. ? Liverpool

19. In the United Kingdom, cars drive on the ________ hand side of the road.left

20. What is the largest airport in the United Kingdom?

A. :-) London Heathrow Airport

B. ? London Gatwick Airport

C. ? Manchester Airport

D. ? Glasgow Airport