Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 3

Unit 3 Lesson A: Human wonders

Vocabulary
Human wonders
airport (n)
ancient city (n)
monument (n)
office building (n)
pyramid (n)
roller coaster (n)
shopping mall (n)
stadium (n)
suspension bridge (n)
train station (n)

Natural wonders
(active) volcano (n)
canyon (n)

Adjectives of measurement
deep (36,000 feet deep) (adj)
long (4,160 miles long) (adj)
tall (1,670 feet tall) (adj)

Units of measurement
1 kilometer = 0.62 miles
1 meter = 3.28 feet

Numbers
1,000,000 = a million
509 = five hundred (and) nine

Cambridge University Press 2014 Unit 3, Lesson A, Page 1

Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 3

Regular superlatives
the busiest (adj)
the most interesting (adj)
the least expensive (adj)

Irregular superlatives
the best (adj)
the worst (adj)

Other words
cover (v)
go hiking (v)
hold (v)
serve (v)
visit (v)

Grammar
Superlatives
You can use superlatives of adjectives to compare three or more things:
This is the tallest building in the world.

Short adjectives
For short adjectives, superlatives are the + adjective + -est:
What's the tallest building in the world?
For short adjectives ending in e, add -st:
Where is the largest shopping mall?
For two-syllable adjectives ending in y, change the y to i and add -est:
What's the busiest restaurant?
For most one-syllable adjectives ending in vowel + consonant, double the last letter and add -
est:

Cambridge University Press 2014 Unit 3, Lesson A, Page 2

Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 3
Which city has the biggest soccer stadium?
Long adjectives

For long adjectives, superlatives are the + most / least + adjective:

What's the most interesting city in your country?

What's the least expensive store?

Irregular superlatives

good the best

What's the best country to visit?

bad the worst

What's the worst problem in your country?

Superlatives with nouns

You can use the superlative form the most with nouns:

Which country has the most tourism?

Which stadium has the most seats?

Here, the most means "more than any other."

Cambridge University Press 2014 Unit 3, Lesson A, Page 3