Listening Skills: Listening for people’s preferences by identifying comparatives

When people use comparatives of adjectives or adverbs to compare people, places and things, usually their statements imply their personal attitudes toward a specific person, place or thing.

e.g. I think the school canteen is cleaner than the small roadside restaurants off the campus.

This statement indicates that the speaker prefers to dine in the school canteen because it is cleaner.

Let’s look at another example:

The famous professor’s lecture today was much less interesting than expected.

It can be inferred that the speaker is disappointed with the famous professor’s lecture.

Besides, adjectives and adverbs in their comparative degrees can be modified by certain words and phrases to intensify their degree.

e.g. Professor Tang’s class is much / far / a lot more interesting than Professor Brown’s.

e.g. According to the weather forecast, it is getting a little / a bit cooler tomorrow.

Therefore, if you pay attention to the comparatives used by people in their communication, then you will be able to tell their preferences or attitudes and make appropriate responses accordingly.

Now you are going to listen to two friends talking about their personal preferences about traveling. In the conversation, many comparatives are used. Try to identify their preferences by listening to the comparatives they use.