Hello dear learners of English! Greetings to all those who are enchanted by the beauty of this wonderful language and want to always improve. I decided to write a couple of posts on adjectives. Let’s see how it goes.
To begin with I would like you to have a look at this task and make guesses about the right answers.
Which of the phrase (s) can finish the sentence correctly?
A ….as cold as ice.
C …..as small as a cupboard.
The correct answer is – all phrases but D are correct. If you thought B is incorrect as well, than I would like to give you a quick explanation why you are wrong. As explained in Practical English Usage by Michael Swan: “We use the structures as….as… in a lot of traditional comparative expressions: as cold as ice, as black as night, as hard as nails, the first as can be dropped in these expressions in an informal style”.
You see that sometimes even when we think we know it all we actually don’t. It is great to always be able to learn something new.
Recently I came across a wonderful song by an Australian singer Lenka which can help you practice this construction in a fun way with music. I am a fan of music, remember?
So while listening to this song, please fill in the gaps with the words you hear.
As quiet as a ……, as big as a …….
As sweet as a ……., as right as a …….
As long as a ……., as ugly as a …….
Bright as …., as light as …….
As hard as ……., as grand as a ……..
As warm as the ……, as silly as …….
As old as ……, as straight as a …….
Did you manage to find the expressions with as….as…. and without the first as that were mentioned above? I hope so. Have you had fun while listening to the song? I hope it will help you remember the expressions better. Good luck with learning!