English for Chemists

Comparison of Adjectives 
1. Read the article again and find the adjectives.
 
2. Which of the adjectives are positive, comparative and which superlative? 
 
positive 
 
 
comparative
 
superlative 
 
 
 
 
 
3. What are the 2 ways of forming comparative and superlative forms of adjectives in 
English? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. How do we know which of the 2 ways to use? 
5. Are there any exceptions to these rules? 
 
 
 
 
 

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6. What are comparative and superlative forms of the following adjectives? 
 

comparative
 
 
 
superlative 
 
thin 
pretty 
far 
big 
often 
quiet 
simple 
Organic nomenclature
1. Read the following paragraph. What is the meaning of the words in bold? 
The simplest organic compounds are hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons contain only two elements, 
hydrogen and carbon. A saturated hydrocarbon or alkane is a hydrocarbon in which all of the 
carbon-carbon bonds are single bonds. Each carbon atom forms four bonds and each hydrogen 
forms a single bond to a carbon. The bonding around each carbon atom is tetrahedral, so all bond 
angles are 109.5°. As a result, the carbon atoms in higher alkanes are arranged in zig-zag rather 
than linear patterns.
Adapted from: http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/bl052503a.htm