Dialogue

Lesson Transcript

Do you know how to use superlatives in English?
Hi, my name is Alisha, and this is Three Step English by EnglishClass101.com.
In this lesson, you'll learn "how to use superlatives" through a quick conversation.
Let's look at the dialogue.
What a great meal! I’m stuffed.
You’re welcome, we always love having you over. How’s the new business coming along?
It’s going alright, but I have to admit that starting over at my age is daunting.
It was hard for me in the beginning, too. I was always late and made a ton of mistakes. One manager even told me that I was the most disorganized person they’d ever hired!
I find that hard to believe! So what did you do to become so successful?
I started observing my colleagues more closely. Making note of everything was the smartest thing I ever did. I worked hard, and when I finally got that promotion, it was one of the best days of my life.
What an inspiring story!
Hey, at least you’re the boss. You won’t have to work your way up to a promotion like I did.
Try telling that to my partner...
Let's go over the dialogue again, more slowly this time.
What a great meal! I’m stuffed.
You’re welcome, we always love having you over. How’s the new business coming along?
It’s going alright, but I have to admit that starting over at my age is daunting.
It was hard for me in the beginning, too. I was always late and made a ton of mistakes. One manager even told me that I was the most disorganized person they’d ever hired!
I find that hard to believe! So what did you do to become so successful?
I started observing my colleagues more closely. Making note of everything was the smartest thing I ever did. I worked hard, and when I finally got that promotion, it was one of the best days of my life.
What an inspiring story!
Hey, at least you’re the boss. You won’t have to work your way up to a promotion like I did.
Try telling that to my partner...
Let's focus on the key part of the conversation.
I started observing my colleagues more closely. Making note of everything was the smartest thing I ever did. I worked hard, and when I finally got that promotion, it was one of the best days of my life.
In this dialogue, this character
Says "Making note of everything was the smartest thing I ever did." "Smartest" is a superlative adjective, formed by appending "-est" to the end of "smart."
He is using the superlative adjective to communicate how smart it was to make a note of everything, even if that might not be literally the smartest thing he has ever done.

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