Comparatives

1. Introduction

This is a game for learning English (ESL) with a specific focus on comparative solutions.

The game uses pairs of pictures that show the difference. For example one is tall and one is short. These pairs are combined with the comparative form of an adjective. Example: Taller. Comparative forms state the meaning conveyed in pairs of images.

The comparison is always done by taking the left image as the main one. The image on the left is always the subject of the sentence and the image on the right is always the object.

The game has 2 main screens. First, there is a screen where you can see pairs of pictures and read a phrase that describes the comparison. You can click on adjacent images to scroll through them. The purpose of this screen is to review the images and give an idea of ​​the differences. On this screen, you can also select the content set you want to use. To start the game, you click the play button.

The second screen is the game screen. This displays pairs of pictures and asks you to create comparison phrases to describe the difference. To create phrases, you must first choose which adjectives to use (remember, the image on the left is always the subject). You are then presented with 3 different forms of the adjective and you have to choose which form is the correct way to make the comparison. For example, the first pair of images shows an elephant and a mouse. First, you choose the adjective big and then you choose the word bigger to describe the difference. Once you've done 12 phrases, the set is complete and you'll get points.

There are 6 different sets of content:

Animals

People

Things

Food

Places

Clothes

Each set of assets has 12 pairs of images and a matching comparison phrase. Sets are selected based on how easy it is to represent visually. It's fine to use comparative adjectives like intelligent or nice, but those adjectives are difficult to show in pictures.

There is a scoring system where you get points for correct answers. Getting the correct answers in a row - without any mistakes - greatly increases the score you get. There is also a timer so you can get more points for a quick answer. Unlike other games, the timer does not make the game over. The timer can make the game more interesting, but a lot of people email me feedback to say that they are often quite frustrating when it's the end of the game. However, a timeout will end the sequence of correct answers. In this way, one hopes that it can be appealing, but not too unpleasant.

For comparative forms in English, the general rule is that words with 3 or more syllables use 'more' while shorter words simply add 'er' or 'ier'. I don't think it's possible to teach or show this rule in the game; instead, students just need to know this and then look or read the words. This game, like all the others, is really about practicing what students have been taught in the classroom and not really about instruction. I tried to use as many longer adjectives as I could; other than that, I managed to include more good-better and more bad-worse.

I hope that learning can happen with this game by continuously forming comparative phrases. A student looks at the picture to stimulate meaning, then through the placement of comparative phrases, the words link to the meaning.

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