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.
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.
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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
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(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.
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+ |
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+ |
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extreme adjective (= ungradable)
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= very + |
gradable adjective
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Partial answers
The gradable adjectives are in the right place below. Try to put the correct extreme adjective next to each.
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adverbs before extreme adjectives
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adverbs before gradable adjectives |
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+ |
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+ |
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extreme adjective (= ungradable)
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= 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.
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adverbs before extreme adjectives absolutely completely really totally utterly
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adverbs before gradable adjectives incredibly extremely really very fairly not very (a little)/ (slightly)
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