POST: Week 6, Day 1, Friday, October 3, 2008

Today we worked on our big reading, which is linked here.

This is how we will proceed:

1. You will read five printed pages (it prints out to 14 pages) each week for class. DO NOT make the mistake of trying to "translate" this. Read and look up what you need to understand it.

2. Mark tough spots --- places where you couldn't understand what you were reading.

3. Bring it with you to class each week -- and we'll have a short in-class on some part of the five pages.

Today I noted that many of you had trouble with the superlative, so let's review what that is:

In English, we can take an adjective and modify it in either the comparative or the superlative:

Example: sweet

This is sweet candy. (ordinary adjective)
This is sweeter candy than that candy over there. (comparative --- ofter marked by "er" form of the adjective or the word "more" and the word "than")
This is the sweetest candy in the whole world. (superlative -- marked with "the" and the word "most" or the "-est" ending and the preposition "of" or "in")

Other examples:

beautiful

This painting is beautiful.
This painting is MORE beautiful than that one.
This is THE MOST beautiful painting OF the three on the wall.

In Spanish, the comparative and the superlative also exist. The comparative is marked with the word "más" (for "more") and "que" (for "than"). The superlative is marked with the article (for "the") the word "más" for "most" and often a phrase that has "de" and is translated as "of" or "in."

Valiente -- brave

Es una ballena valiente -- She is a brave whale.
La ballena es más valiente que su madre -- The whale is braver than her mother (note: "mas" and "que").
El mito de la ballena más valiente del mundo -- The myth of the bravest whale in the world (note: "la" and "más" and "del")

Example: El mito de la ballena más valiente del mundo