Page 98 - Improve_Your_Written_English [Marion_Field]
P. 98
84 / P ART ONE: THE B AS ICS
These five sentences all start with ‘she’ so the passage does
not flow. Is the following example better?
Cautiously opening the door, Tina saw who stood on the
doorstep so she hurriedly closed it. Running back to the
dining room, the child started to cry. She was dis-
traught.
Sentences 3 and 4 have been combined and only the last
sentence starts with ‘she’ while two of the pronouns have
been replaced with nouns. The writing is much ‘tighter’.
MAKING COMPARISONS
When using adjectives to compare two things or people ‘-er’
is usually added to the base word. This is known as the
comparative. The base word is ‘positive’.
positive comparative
big bigger
happy happier
slow slower
tall taller
She is taller than I am.
He is slower than she is.
When more than two things or people are involved, ‘-est’ is
added to the adjective. This is known as the superlative:
positive comparative superlative
big bigger biggest
