Audio Lessons
U2 tells us what the 'sweetest' thing is...
U2 tells us what the 'sweetest' thing is...
One of my favourite U2 songs is The Sweetest Thing. Let's listen to this clip...
Baby's got blue skies up ahead,
But in this I'm a rain cloud,
You know she likes a dry kind of love,
Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing.
Let's read the lyrics together.
In this clip, the singer Bono uses the term 'blue skies'. In English, 'blue skies' always refers to a positive period of time.
For example:
I have only had blue skies since I finished university. It's been great!
Bono also sings about the 'sweetest' thing. In English, when you want to say the greatest degree of something you can use -est or 'most'. For example,
Biggest
Most beautiful
Smallest
Most modern
Funniest
Most famous
Tallest
Most impressive
Happiest
Most educated
Here, we see a number of ways to describe the greatest degree of something. The rules are easy:
One syllable adjectives (like 'big', 'small' and 'tall') take -est after them.
Biggest
Smallest
Tallest
Two syllable adjectives ending in 'y' (like 'funny', 'happy' and 'tasty') drop their 'y' and take 'iest' after them.
Funniest
Happiest
Tasiest
Two syllable adjectives not ending in 'y' (like 'famous', 'modern' and 'crippled') and 3 or more syllabled adjective take 'most' before them.
Most famous
Most modern
Most crippled
Most beautiful
Most attractive
Most educated
So now you know why Bono sings 'the sweetest thing' and not 'the most sweet thing'. :D
Now you try. You will be given a word. You have 5 seconds to convert this word to its greatest degree.
Question 1
Happy
Question 2
Talkative
Question 3
Playful
Question 4
Bald
Question 5
Pink
Question 6
Motivated
Question 7
Ambitious
Question 8
Nasty
Question 9
Tactful
Question 10
Crafty
Baby's got blue skies up ahead,
But in this I'm a rain cloud,
You know she likes a dry kind of love,
Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing.
Let's read the lyrics together.
In this clip, the singer Bono uses the term 'blue skies'. In English, 'blue skies' always refers to a positive period of time.
For example:
I have only had blue skies since I finished university. It's been great!
Bono also sings about the 'sweetest' thing. In English, when you want to say the greatest degree of something you can use -est or 'most'. For example,
Biggest
Most beautiful
Smallest
Most modern
Funniest
Most famous
Tallest
Most impressive
Happiest
Most educated
Here, we see a number of ways to describe the greatest degree of something. The rules are easy:
One syllable adjectives (like 'big', 'small' and 'tall') take -est after them.
Biggest
Smallest
Tallest
Two syllable adjectives ending in 'y' (like 'funny', 'happy' and 'tasty') drop their 'y' and take 'iest' after them.
Funniest
Happiest
Tasiest
Two syllable adjectives not ending in 'y' (like 'famous', 'modern' and 'crippled') and 3 or more syllabled adjective take 'most' before them.
Most famous
Most modern
Most crippled
Most beautiful
Most attractive
Most educated
So now you know why Bono sings 'the sweetest thing' and not 'the most sweet thing'. :D
Now you try. You will be given a word. You have 5 seconds to convert this word to its greatest degree.
Question 1
Happy
Question 2
Talkative
Question 3
Playful
Question 4
Bald
Question 5
Pink
Question 6
Motivated
Question 7
Ambitious
Question 8
Nasty
Question 9
Tactful
Question 10
Crafty