Gradable and Extreme Adjectives- Speaking Card Game

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Students use cards with gradable and ungradable adjective pairs to make conversation questions, match the pairs, add collocations, and test each other on the language - including adverbs with gradable adjectives and extreme adjectives.

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Lesson Plan Content:


Gradable and extreme adjectives speaking card game

Spread the cards across the table face up. Use as many cards as you can to make sentences about things you have in common (opinions in common, experiences in common, etc), with sentences like “We both think/ find/ have/ have found/ feel/ believe/…”

Suggested discussion questions

How would you feel if…?

How… is/ are… (in this country/ town)?

How… would you be if…?

How… would you have to be to…?

How… would… have to be for you to…?

What would you do if…?

Would you agree/ say that… is/ are…?/ Would you describe … as…?

Would you… (just) because…?/ Would you… if you were…?

Useful phrases for agreeing

I totally agree./ That’s quite right./ I have exactly the same opinion.

I think that is fair/ a good description.

Useful phrases for disagreeing

I wouldn’t go as far as that. I’d say…/ I wouldn’t go as far as to say… More like…

I would go even further and say…

Ask about any cards which you couldn’t use, then work together to match the cards with gradable adjectives and extreme adjectives with similar meanings (extreme adjective = very + gradable adjective). There is more than one match for each. 

Make sure that you have two gradable adjectives and two extreme adjectives in each group, then match them to opposites to help and to start checking your answers.

Put the adverb cards into columns by which kinds of words they go with.

Check with un-cut-up copies of the worksheets. Synonyms are paired next to each other, with gradable and extreme adjectives with similar meanings on the same line. Opposites are above and below each other.

Test each other on the adjectives:

  • Say two words with the same or related meanings, and see if your partner can say how they are related
  • Say the gradable and extreme adjectives mixed up and see if your partner can say which is which
  • Say three of the four things on one line and see if your partner can say the fourth thing
  • Say seven of the eight words with similar and opposite meanings and see if your partner can say the eighth word

 

with extreme adjectives

absolutely

completely

totally

utterly

perfectly

entirely

with gradable adjectives

slightly

a little

a bit

not very

fairly

very

extremely

incredibly

with both

pretty

really

 

amusing/ humorous

 

funny

 

hilarious

 

side-splitting

 

serious

 

 

sad/ solemn

 

tragic

 

dead serious

attractive/ pretty

 

good looking

 

gorgeous

 

stunning

 

ugly

 

unattractive

 

hideous

gruesome-looking

 

big

 

large

huge/ gigantic

massive/ enormous

 

little

 

small

 

tiny

minuscule/ minute

 

cool

 

cold

 

 

freezing

 

frozen

 

warm

 

hot

baking/ boiling

 

roasting

 

sad

 

unhappy

 

 

miserable

 

heartbroken

 

glad/ pleased

 

 

happy

 

delighted

 

overjoyed

 

sleepy

 

tired

 

exhausted

shattered/ knackered

 

lively

 

 

energetic

 

hyper

 

hyperactive

 

necessary

 

 

important

 

crucial/ vital

 

essential

 

unimportant

 

 

trivial

 

pointless

 

worthless

 

rich

 

 

wealthy

 

filthy rich

 

loaded

 

 

poor

 

 

low income

 

penniless

 

broke

 

good

 

decent

 

great/ brilliant

fantastic/ splendid

 

bad

deficient/ inferior

 

awful/ terrible

dreadful/ disastrous

 

boring

 

uninteresting

mind-numbing

soul destroying

 

interesting

 

 

stimulating

 

captivating

 

fascinating

 

damp

 

 

wet

 

soaked

 

sopping

 

dry

 

 

dehydrated

 

parched

 

bone dry

 

hungry

 

peckish

 

starving

dying of hunger

 

full

 

satiated

 

stuffed

full up/ fit to burst

 

tasty

 

palatable

delicious/ lip-smacking

mouth-watering

 

yucky

 

 

unappetising

 

revolting

 

sickening

 

frightened

 

 

scared

 

terrified

 

petrified

 

brave

 

 

courageous

 

fearless

 

heroic

drunk/ intoxicated

 

tipsy/ merry

wasted/ wrecked

blotto/ smashed

 

sober

straight/ temperate

stone cold sober

clear-headed/ dry

 

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