A selection of English ESL gradable adjectives printables

A short worksheet on some different non-gradable adjectives. There is a rather short explanation to cut down on the note-taking in class and then a substitution exercise. The level of the vocabulary is from pre- to upper intermediate. The answers are on the back. I will do more of these when I get a moment.

Non-Gradable Adjectives

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Your ESL students can practice using adjectives, words that describe the qualities of something. Some adjectives are gradable which means you can have different degrees or levels of that quality. Extreme, non-gradable adjectives are words that mean ‘very very + adjective’ or more accurately ‘extremely + adjective.’ ‘Boiling’ means ‘extremely hot.’ The temperature can’t be ‘a little bit boiling’ or ‘very boiling’ because the word itself means ‘extremely hot.’ Adverbs are also reviewed in this handout.

Emphatic, extreme, or non-gradable adjective introduced in this handout:

filthy, starving, packed, awful, hideous, exhausted, enormous, tiny, glamorous, grotesque, spotless, deafening, thundering, colossal, terrified, mute, freezing, boiling.

Extreme (Non-Gradable) Adjectives

This is a mix of several exercises that I found on the Internet..I DID NOT CREATE ANY OF THEM, just mixed fix reorganize and add some clues to help students.

PS: In case you need the answer add a comment with your email and I'll send them...I don't know how to attach it

 

Gradable non gradable adjective

A short and easy exercise on gradable/non-gradable adjectives. This is a gap-filling task where students have to write provided adjectives in the correct form. 

Gradable/Non-gradable Adjectives 

A list of commonly used gradable and non-gradable adjectives.



You can find online exercises to practice them at http://www.englishshouldbefun.com/extreme-adjectives/ 



Enjoy!

Gradable and Non-gradable adjectives

Short activity on gradable/non-gradable adjectives to use in class or as homework. Students have o fill in the gaps with the correct form of the given adjective. At the bottom of the page, there is a second task where they have to create two sentences. 

Frozen - Gradable/Non-gradable Adjectives

Students read the rule about gradable and non-gradable adjectives, then complete the chart with adjectives and do some extra exercises

I made it for my PET students, who do the course Complete PET



Gradable - non gradable adjectives (extreme or strong adjectives)

In the first task you have to add very for gradable adjectives and absolutely for non-gradable ones.



In the second you are given the gradable adjective and you have to give a non-gradable one.



You can find more online practice tasks at http://www.englishshouldbefun.com/extreme-adjectives/



Enjoy!

Worksheet - Gradable / Non-Gradable

The task is very simple. Students have to match a gradable adjective from the first column with upgradable from the second. Sometimes there are two gradable adjectives which are synonyms but matching one upgradable and vice versa.

Gradable and Upgradable adjectives

Country information gap sheets using non-gradable (strong/extreme) adjectives. Useful for classes on travel, tourism, geography, or countries. Students ask question to be able to fill the gaps on their own sheet. One set of copies are for the teachers, which do not have the gaps. All pictures from Wikipedia

Country Information Gap - nongradable Adjectives

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

10 Gradable adjectives English ESL worksheets pdf & doc