Learn how to form irregular superlatives
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalie: Good morning! |
| Braden: Braden here. This American Restaurant is the Best! |
| Braden: In this lesson, you'll learn about using irregular superlatives. |
| Natalie: This conversation takes place at a hotel on the phone. |
| Braden: And it’s between a receptionist and Jessica. |
| Natalie: The receptionist and Jessica have never met so they are speaking semi-professionally. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Receptionist: Good morning. How may I help you? |
| Jessica: Well, we decided to eat at a restaurant. Do you eat at restaurants often? |
| Receptionist: Yes, I do. |
| Jessica: Could you tell me the name of the best restaurant within five minutes of the hotel? |
| Receptionist: I actually don't like the restaurants near the hotel but there's a steakhouse on Pine Street that I love. It's a bit farther than five minutes, but it's my favorite here in Phoenix. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Receptionist: Good morning. How may I help you? |
| Jessica: Well, we decided to eat at a restaurant. Do you eat at restaurants often? |
| Receptionist: Yes, I do. |
| Jessica: Could you tell me the name of the best restaurant within five minutes of the hotel? |
| Receptionist: I actually don't like the restaurants near the hotel but there's a steakhouse on Pine Street that I love. It's a bit farther than five minutes, but it's my favorite here in Phoenix. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Phoenix. |
| Natalie: That's right. Phoenix is the largest and capital city of the state of Arizona. It is also the 6th most populous city in the United States with a population of 1.4 million. Phoenix is the only state capital in the United States with over 1 million people. |
| Braden: Beyond the city limits, the greater metropolitan area has a population of 4.2 million people. |
| Natalie: That's right. Phoenix is currently home to 7 Fortune 500 companies including Apollo group, Freeport-McMoran, PetSmart, and Pinnacle West. Honeywell Aerospace division - they invented the autopilot - is also headquartered in Phoenix. |
| Braden: U-Haul international, best Western, and the Mesa air group are all headquartered in Phoenix. |
| Natalie: Arizona State University is the main institution of higher education in the region and is currently one of the largest public universities in the United States with enrollment of over 72,000 students. |
| Braden: One unique aspect of Phoenix is the DeVry University and the Argosy university which are for-profit institutions with a large online presence. |
| Natalie: For those of you with internet interests, Phoenix is a major hub for the internet backbone. In fact, it's one of less than thirty cities to have what's called an OC48 line which is the fastest fiber optic line available. |
| Braden: That's why there are so many businesses hosted there and why American Express hosts their financial transactions customer information and their entire website in Phoenix. |
| Natalie: Alright. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natalie: restaurant [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a place where food and drinks can be bought |
| Natalie: restaurant [slowly - broken down by syllable] restaurant [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: best [natural native speed] |
| Braden: of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type |
| Natalie: best [slowly - broken down by syllable] best [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: five [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the cardinal number 5 |
| Natalie: five [slowly - broken down by syllable] five [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: minute [natural native speed] |
| Braden: unit of time that is sixty seconds |
| Natalie: minute [slowly - broken down by syllable] minute [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: often [natural native speed] |
| Braden: many times; frequently |
| Natalie: often [slowly - broken down by syllable] often [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: steakhouse [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a restaurant that specializes in serving steaks |
| Natalie: steakhouse [slowly - broken down by syllable] steakhouse [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: decided [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to have made a decision about |
| Natalie: decided [slowly - broken down by syllable] decided [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: Pine [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a type of tree; often used as a street name |
| Natalie: Pine [slowly - broken down by syllable] Pine [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: farther [natural native speed] |
| Braden: at, to, or by a greater distance |
| Natalie: farther [slowly - broken down by syllable] farther [natural native speed] |
| Natalie: within [natural native speed] |
| Braden: inside |
| Natalie: within [slowly - broken down by syllable] within [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: actually [natural native speed] |
| Braden: as a true fact, really |
| Natalie: actually [slowly - broken down by syllable] actually [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: favorite [natural native speed] |
| Braden: one that is preferred, treated with special liking |
| Natalie: favorite [slowly - broken down by syllable] favorite [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “within five minutes.” |
| Braden: Now, in the dialogue, remember that they were talking about going to a restaurant that was near the hotel where they were at. |
| Natalie: However, they did not ask about a restaurant that was within a specific distance from the hotel. They asked about how long it would take to get there. |
| Braden: that's right. This is very typical of American English because Americans are typically very concerned and aware of the time. |
| Natalie: Using this phrase is also based on a lot of experience. For example, five minutes by car will take you a much greater distance than five minutes on foot. |
| Braden: That is, depending on car traffic. Five minutes by car at two o'clock in the morning will get you much farther than five minutes during rush hour. |
| Natalie: So, the crew members are aware of the time limits that they have and that they need to be back to the airport soon so they judge by the “five-minute rule.” |
| Braden: Perfect. Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) within five minutes |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) within five minutes |
| Braden: Perfect! What’s next? |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “a bit.” |
| Braden: Now, a “bit" is a small piece, part, or quantity of something. This word is useful because it is nonspecific. In other words, you can use it in many different contexts. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, “a bit” is used within the sentence “it's a bit farther.” |
| Braden: Here the receptionist is informing Jessica that the steakhouse that he loves is farther away than five minutes, however “just a bit.” Or not very much farther. |
| Natalie: To see the word “bit” used in other contexts listen to this phrase, “He read a bit of his book.” Here, he only reads a small amount of his book. |
| Braden: Or, for another example, use the sentence “I fell asleep for a bit.” Here the person only slept for a short period of time. |
| Natalie: Exactly. |
| Braden: Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) a bit |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) a bit |
| Braden: Excellent! Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Natalie, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Natalie: The focus of this lesson is irregular superlatives |
| Braden: In the dialogue we heard the phrase |
| Natalie: Could you tell me the name of the best restaurant within five minutes of the hotel? |
| Braden: Okay so, Usually, the superlative forms in English simply take "-est." |
| Natalie: However, there are some adjectives that are irregular, or they do not follow this rule. |
| Braden: In this lesson, we will talk about 3 adjectives that have irregular superlatives. |
| Natalie: Those 3 adjectives are good, bad, and far. |
| Braden: First we’ll look at good. “Good” has an irregular superlative. it also has an irregular comparative but we talked about that in the last lesson. |
| Natalie: That's right. So, it's very common to hear children say “goodest” however this is incorrect. The correct superlative for the adjective "good" is “best.” |
| Braden: That's right. For example, “This is the best restaurant in the area." |
| Natalie: This sentence compares the restaurant where they are to all the other restaurants in the area. |
| Braden: Another example would be, “Summer weather is the best." |
| Natalie: Here, summer weather is compared to all the weather of all the other seasons and, according to the comparison, summer's weather is most agreeable. |
| Braden: Next we’ll look at Bad. “Bad” also has an irregular superlative. |
| Natalie: The correct superlative form for "bad" is "worst." It's common to hear singers and rap artists use the word “baddest," however, it is incorrect. |
| Braden: Almost all dictionaries, and certainly all English teachers, consider “baddest” to be a slang term. The correct superlative is “worst.” |
| Natalie: Yes it is. For example, “He is the worst rap artist I've ever heard.” (haha) |
| Braden: This sentence compares a specific rap artist to all the other rap artists the speaker has heard. |
| Natalie: Right. Another example would be “This is the worst economy since the 1970s." |
| Braden: Here, the current economy is compared to all the other economies since the 1970s. |
| Natalie: The last superlative will look at is for the adjective “far.” This is a bit of a trick superlative because the adjective “far” can become a superlative in two different ways. |
| Braden: "Far" can be a superlative as "farthest" or "furthest." First, let's look at “farthest.” |
| Natalie: "Farthest" is used to indicate a change in distance. For example – |
| Braden: “Michael can run the farthest of us all." |
| Natalie: Here, Michael can run farther, or a greater distance, than any of the others. |
| Braden: Now let's take a look at "furthest." "Furthest" is used to indicate a degree of change. For example – |
| Natalie: “This is the furthest the Police Department will ever go in it's fight against drug dealers." |
| Braden: Here, the degree to which the please department will go in order to fight or combat against drug dealers is compared to other possibilities. |
| Natalie: Let's review this lesson. |
| Braden: Usually, the superlative forms in English simply take -est. |
| Natalie: However, there are irregular superlatives which do not follow this rule. |
| Braden: We talked about the irregular superlatives for "good," "bad," and "far" in this lesson. |
| Natalie: And remember, "far" has two possible irregular superlatives; "farthest" and "furthest." |
| Braden: "Farthest" is for distances and "furthest" is for degrees of intensity. |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening. |
| Natalie: Thanks for joining us! |
Comments
Hide