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Gradable and Extreme Adjectives- Anecdotes Game

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Making personal stories more interesting with extreme adjectives speaking, with gradable and ungradable adjectives grammar presentation.

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Lesson Plan Content:


Gradable and extreme adjectives anecdotes game

with active listening practice

Take turns being the person telling a personal story, with the other person being the person who is listening and reacting. Both of you should try to use many of the words in the table below (including the adverbs in the left-hand column) while you speak or listen and react, ticking off individual words with different coloured pens as you do so. Your partner can cross off your tick if the same word has already been used or if they think that the word has been used in the wrong way. The person with the most ticks at the end of the game is the winner.

Useful phrases for reacting to people’s anecdotes

“Didn’t you feel…?”/ “That must have been…”/ “You must have felt…”

“That sounds…”/ “I guess it was…”/ “I’m sure it was…”/ “I suppose you felt…”

“I had a similar experience. It was…”

“Really? I would have been…”/ “Actually, I remember it being…”

 

Useful adverbs and adjectives for telling and reacting to anecdotes

 

 

 

 

 

 

(a little)

absolutely

completely

extremely

fairly

incredibly

not very

really

(slightly)

totally

utterly

very

amazing/ excellent/ fabulous/ good/ superb/ terrific/ wonderful

amusing/ funny/ hilarious

awful/ bad/ dreadful/ terrible

big/ enormous/ gigantic/ huge/ large/ massive

boring/ mind-numbing

confusing/ mind-boggling

crammed/ crowded/ jam-packed/ packed

crazy/ eccentric

crucial/ essential/ important/ vital

delicious/ mouth-watering/ tasty

delightful/ lovely/ nice

difficult/ impossible/ tricky

dirty/ filthy

disgusting/ revolting/ yucky

ear-splitting/ loud/ noisy

exciting/ thrilling

exhausting/ tiring

exorbitant/ expensive/ pricey

fascinating/ interesting

frantic/ worried

frightening/ scary/ terrifying

gorgeous/ pretty/ stunning

horrible/ nasty

hungry/ starving

idiotic/ stupid

little/ small/ tiny

memorable/ unforgettable

parched/ thirsty

soaked/ wet

 

Extreme adjectives grammar presentation

All the lines of adjectives above can be divided into two kinds. One kind can be graded from a low level to a high level and so are called “gradable adjectives”. The other kind mean “very + gradable adjective” and so only have extreme meanings and can only be used with adverbs that make them more extreme. Without looking above for now, put pairs of adjectives next to each other in the two boxes of the table below. Many adjective pairs not above are also possible.

+

 

+

extreme adjective (= ungradable)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

= very +

gradable adjective

 


Partial answers

The gradable adjectives are in the right place below. Try to put the correct extreme adjective next to each.  

adverbs before extreme adjectives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

adverbs before gradable adjectives

+

 

+

extreme adjective (= ungradable)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

= very +

gradable adjective

amusing/ funny

bad

big/ large

boring

confusing

crowded

difficult/ tricky

dirty

eccentric

exciting

expensive/ pricey

frightening/ scary

good

hungry

important

interesting

little/ small

loud/ noisy

memorable

nasty

nice

pretty

stupid

tasty

thirsty

tiring

wet

worried

yucky

Check your answers with the first page, then put suitable adverbs into the top two boxes above. Rank the ones in the right-hand column from the strongest top to the least bottom. One adverb goes in both columns. The answers are on the next page.


Adverbs which go with gradable and extreme adjectives

Ones in brackets () only go with negative adjectives.

adverbs before extreme adjectives

absolutely

completely

really

totally

utterly

 

 

 

adverbs before gradable adjectives

incredibly

extremely

really

very

fairly

not very

(a little)/ (slightly)

 

 

 

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