A. Distance: how far …
British people buy most things in metres, centimetres and
millimetres, but they still often talk about distance using the
old system of miles [1 mile = about 1.6 kilometres], yards
[1 yard = almost 1 metre], feet [1 foot = 30 centimetres], and
inches [1 inch = 2.5 centimetres].
Common mistakes
It’s ten minutes’ walk from here.
(NOT ten minutes’ walking.)
It’s a long way. (NOT It’s far.) But
we can say ‘No, it isn’t far.
B. Dimensions: how long or wide …
Common mistakes
Mason is quite tall (NOT quite high). It’s a tall tree/building (NOT a high tree/building). It’s a
high mountain (NOT a tall mountain).
We can ask about the dimensions like this:
- What’s the length of the garage? OR How long is the garage?
It’s five metres (long).
- What’s the width of the path? OR How wide is the path?
It’s a metre (wide).
- What’s the height of the wall? OR How high is the wall?
It’s two metres (high).
- What’s the depth of the pool? OR How deep is the pool?
It’s three metres (deep).
C. Size: how big or small …
We use a range of adjectives to describe the size of something.
- It was a very thick book – over 500 pages. (opp a thin book)
- Their living room is huge [very big; syn enormous; opp a tiny room].
- We caught a giant crab. [very large or bigger than other similar things]
- It was a very narrow road for a bus. (opp a wide road)
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