Focus on Grammar

AND THE STONE”Some history books are boring. Too many facts. But this one wasn’t like others. It’sabout Armenia seen through Russian eyes. Bakshi makes you understand and rememberlots of things. Very poetic.A reviewer answers the following questions:1. What is the title of the book?2. Who wrote it?3. Is it a detective story?an adventure book?a love story?… ?4. What is the book about?5. Did you like the book (story)?Useful languagesuccess –words: be/achieve a success, gain popular interest, to be widely read, to bringfame to, to be famous/well known for, to deserve/to be awarded a prize, to be popularwith, to centre around/to be aboutwriter – brilliant, outstanding, helpless, gifted, contemporary, modern, talenteddescription – thrilling, dull, unusual, exciting, exact, skillful, humorous, poetic,classical, modern<strong>Focus</strong> on GrammarRevision: AdjectivesElder, eldest are used to talk about the order of birth (of brothers, sisters, sons, daughters,etc.)They are used only with nouns.e.g. An elder son is the older of two; an eldest son is the oldest of threeor more.Farther/farthest, further/furthest can be used for distances, further/furthest can be usedwith abstract nouns to mean’additional/extra’.e.g. The sun is farther/further from the earth than the moon.Further discussion of the problem is quite necessary.Later refers to time: something happens later or after something else, latter refers to thesecond of two persons or things mentioned before.Last means ‘the one before’, ‘the final element’, latest means the newest.e.g. She published her latest book. She thinks it’s h better than her last one.Next comes immediately after this one, in time, order or space, nearest means ‘closestin time, space or position’.e.g. The nearest post office is at the next stop.The former refers to the first of two things or persons, the latter refers to the second oftwo persons or things. They are rather formal.70