6.4 Comparatives, Superlatives, Quantifiers & Flyers-New Structures

6.4 Comparatives, Superlatives, Quantifiers & Flyers-New Structures

Quick Answer: Comparatives are Movers (Your house is bigger than mine. Anna is my best friend.) but Flyers papers still test them, especially relative size in Speaking Part 1 and than gaps in Parts 4 and 6. Truly Flyers-new here are be made of, be/look/sound/feel/taste/smell like, make somebody + adjective, What time…?, What else/next?, and See you soon/later/tomorrow. Tag questions were covered in 6.3.

Comparatives: old list, live paper

The Handbook's Movers examples still apply at Flyers:

• Adjectives: Your house is bigger than mine. Anna is my best friend.
• Adverbs: My brother reads more quickly than my sister. I like ice cream best.

Speaking Part 1 differences include number, colour, position, appearance, activity, shape, and relative size. The Handbook's clock example is shape (square / round), but size language is the same job: In my picture the castle is smaller. In your picture the swan is bigger than the duck. Children who can only say big and small without than still get the idea across; children who add taller, shorter, longer, heavier, more expensive match the cue-card world of Part 2 (cheap or expensive?).

Short adjectives add -er / -est: taller than, the tallest, nicer, bigger (double the consonant in big/hot/thin as classroom spelling, not as a new grammar list). Longer adjectives use more / the most: more interesting, the most beautiful — but only with adjectives the wordlist actually gives you. Do not import adult more efficient. Flyers-safe: more careful, more expensive, more interesting, more quickly.

Irregular forms children need because they are common on the papers: good → better → best, bad → worse → worst, far → further if you meet it in further up the hill — and if you have not taught further, the castle is farther from the bus is extra, not required. I like ice cream best is the Handbook adverb superlative.

Part 6 holiday diaries use comparatives in the wild: a famous building that looked much smaller than it is in a photo. The missing word in a teaching gap is often than, not the adjective. Drill:

• The pond is smaller than the lake.
• Gold is more expensive than silver.
• Harry ran faster than Paul, so he fell over.

Much before a comparative (much smaller) appears in real Flyers-style texts. Treat it as the language of the paper, not as a new p. 77 heading.

Quantifiers that stay inside the lists

Do not build a full adult much/many/few/little course unless the word is on the published lists. What you can teach without inventing:

• Starters determiners: some milk, a banana, these books.
• Movers: a lot as an adverb (My mother talks a lot), every with time (every Saturday).
• Flyers numbers list: several, thousand, million, plus 101–1,000 and 21st–31st.
• Comparatives of quantity: more, most, bigger, smaller.

Safe Flyers sentences:

• There are several swans on the pond.
• Harry took some photos inside the pyramid.
• The museum has a lot of old gold.
• Emma collected more shells than William.

Part 4 factual texts often open with In many countries… in sample-style writing. If many is in the three options, it is being tested as a listed word in context, not as a new grammar chapter. Copy the option; do not rewrite the text with lots of unless that is the option.

All and every turn up in Part 5 paraphrase (juice for all of them). Write 1–4 words, not a new quantifier essay.

Be made of and the materials list

Official Flyers-new example: The toy is made of wood.

Materials on the Young Learners lists:

Part 1 definitions love this structure: This is made of metal and you use it to open a door. → a key. This is made of wool and you wear it when it is cold. → a sweater or a scarf, depending on the box. Read the whole line. Gold and silver are also colours on the Flyers colour list, so a gold crown may be colour not material. Made of gold is the material structure.

Form to drill: is/are made of + material. The skyscraper windows are made of glass. Holly's bracelet is made of silver. The model pyramid is made of card. Negatives and questions follow ordinary be: Is the toy made of plastic? It isn't made of metal.

Do not invent made from as a Flyers-new contrast with made of. The listed item is be made of. A Part 1 jam definition may say made from fruit in teaching materials; that is lexical, not a second official grammar heading on p. 77.

Speaking Part 1 can use material if two objects differ: In my picture the gate is made of wood. In your picture it is made of metal. That is appearance plus be made of in one difference.

Like: appearance, sound, and the What's … like? question

Official Flyers-new examples:

• What's your new teacher like?
• That sounds like the baby upstairs. I think he's crying.

This like is not Starters I like swimming (enjoy). It is resemblance after be, look, sound, feel, taste, smell.

Flyers-wordlist copies:

• The cloud looks like a swan.
• This soup tastes like chicken.
• The cave smells like wet wool.
• That drum sounds like a storm.
• The plastic plate feels like glass, but it is light.
• What's the castle like? It's bigger than our school and it's made of stone. (Stone is on the Flyers world list.)

What's … like? asks for a description, not yes I like it. Speaking Part 4 can ask about a teacher, a holiday, or a birthday: What's your school like? Answer with adjectives the list allows: It's big. The teachers are kind. It looks like a castle. A child who answers Yes, I like it has heard Starters like, not Flyers like.

Part 2 may offer It looks like a swan as a reply to What's that cloud like? Unused options often use the other like (I like swans), which does not describe the cloud.

Make somebody/something + adjective

Official example: That smell makes me hungry!

Pattern: make + person/thing + adjective. Flyers-safe:

• The long hill made the children tired.
• That loud drum makes the baby sad.
• The walk made them thirsty. (Hungry and thirsty are Movers food and health language children still need.)
• The news made Emma happy.

This is not make + object + infinitive (make me to eat). There is no to. It is not make a cake (ordinary verb). Part 6 might hide makes or me: That smell ___ me hungry. Reading the adjective after the gap tells you the Flyers pattern.

What time…?, What else/next?, See you…

These are Flyers-new functional frames, not essay grammar.

• What time does the film start? Official. Also: What time do you get up on Saturday? — the Handbook's own Speaking Part 4 sample question.
• What else shall I draw? Official. What else adds another item; What next? asks the following step. Listening Part 5 has no drawing task at Flyers, so What else shall I draw? is classroom language from the grammar list, not a reminder to draw on the colouring picture. On the paper, children colour named objects and write two words. Use What else / What next? in Part 2 and in class: What else do we need for the picnic? What next?
• See you soon / later / tomorrow / next week, Mrs Ball! Closing a dialogue. Part 2 sometimes needs a closer that is not Goodbye alone. Do not force a closer into a dialogue that is still asking about lunch.

Speaking Part 2 cue cards ask for time as well as name, place, and cheap/expensive. What time does Michael's club start? is the Flyers-new frame doing the Part 2 job. Alternative questions remain Movers-friendly: Is it cheap or expensive? Comparatives sit inside that alternative: the answer may be It's cheaper than the chess club at school.

Putting the last Flyers-new row on the right paper

Part 1: made of definitions; comparatives of size in the meaning of skyscraper versus hill only if the box holds those words.

Part 2: What time…?, See you later, It looks like…, Shall we…? from 6.2, tags from 6.3.

Part 4 / Part 6: than, of, like, makes, more, most, several. Read beyond the gap. Looked much smaller ___ it is is than. The toy is made ___ wood is of. That sounds ___ the baby is like.

Part 7: comparatives only if the pictures show size change (The alien was bigger in picture 3). Made of only if a material is visible. Do not bolt extra grammar onto a 20-word story.

Speaking Part 1: relative size and appearance; made of if it is the difference.

Speaking Part 2: What time…? and cheap or expensive?

Speaking Part 4: What's your teacher like? What time do you get up? Have you ever…? What are you going to do?

A 10-sentence checklist for the whole of Chapter 6

If a child can say these with Flyers words, the p. 77 row plus the needed Movers stack is in place:

1. Harry was walking to the castle when he saw a swan. (6.1)
2. It was cold and snow was falling. (6.1)
3. Have you ever been to a pyramid? (6.1)
4. He finished his postcard before he played football. (6.1 / 6.3)
5. We're going to visit the museum, aren't we? (6.2 / 6.3)
6. Shall we take a torch? You could invite Robert. We should take water. (6.2)
7. Vicky might come. If it's sunny, we go swimming. (6.2)
8. I was tired so I went on the bus. Grandma forgot where she put her glasses. (6.3)
9. The gate is made of metal. The castle is bigger than our school. (6.4)
10. That smell makes me hungry. What time does the film start? See you tomorrow. (6.4)

Nothing in that list is first conditional, past perfect, or made from as a rival structure. That is the point of this chapter: teach what Cambridge lists, show the paper part that uses it, and keep Starters and Movers items in play because Flyers still needs them.