Folktales and fables

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One Thousand and One Night. Public domain
Can you think of a well-known story or folktale from Spain?

Have you read any of the stories of The Arabian Nights? Do you know in which language they were originally written? Why are the tales so famous? Visit this page and find out.

Scheherazade is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of The Arabian Nights. She is the daughter of the King's Vizier and she tells a story for one thousand and one nights.  Why do you think she tells a story a night?

 

Gradable and non-gradable adjectives

One way of making our stories more interesting is to use gradable and non-gradable adjectives. 

Gradable adjectives can be used in comparative or superlative forms, or with adverbs such as extremely, very, quite, fairly or pretty. We can grade or show the degree of a particular quality in a person or a thing:
                               I am very hungry and I am fairly tired tonight.

Gradable adjectives with a negative meaning can be used with the following adverbs: a little, a bit, slightly, rather or somewhat:
                         
                              I am a little concerned about your rather disappointing exam results.

Non-gradable adjectives cannot be used with adverbs such as very nor in comparative or superlative forms. These adjectives describe absolute degrees of a particular quality. They usually occur with the following adverbs: absolutely, completely, totally, utterly. 
                       
                              My father was absolutey furious when I told him I had crashed his car.
                             Jenny was utterly horrified when I told her the news.

Quite can also be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives, but its meaning changes.

                     That story is quite interesting. ( = a bit interesting)
                    That story is quite fascinating. ( = utterly fascinating)

Really can be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives.

                    Peter's life is really interesting/amazing.


Some practice
Think of the adjectives "boiling"  and  "hilarious". Answer the following questions:
  1. Are they gradable or non-gradable? How do you know?
  2. Are they extreme adjectives?
  3. Where would you put "boiling" on the HOT scale?
  4. Where would you put "hilarious" on the FUNNY scale?

    HOT                              FUNNY
extremely hot                 extremely funny
very hot                          very funny
hot                                  funny
quite hot                         quite funny
fairly hot                        fairly funny

If you would like to learn more about gradable and non-gradable adjectives, click here for further practice.

Speaking

Prepare a folk tale from your country or a fairy tale that you like. You will share it with your classmates.

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