Let’s practice forming comparative adjectives with a dialogue about saving money at home.
Before we do the dialogue, let’s review the comparatives that we’ll need.
Dialogue:
Replace the adjectives in red with their comparative forms.
Speaker 1 – A radio show host
Speaker 2 – Mrs. Johnson, author, home-maker, and expert money saver
Host: Mrs. Johnson is a home-maker and mother of three. When she decided to quit her job, and to dedicate herself to raising her children, she knew that she would need to learn how to be thrifty. Over the years, her family has survived, and thrived, on only Mr. Johnson’s salary, and the sales from Mrs. Johnson’s book, “Living Well With Less”.
Welcome, Mrs. Johnson. Thank you for joining us today.
Mrs. Johnson: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Host: In your book, you say that attitude is IMPORTANT than discipline. Tell us about this.
Mrs. Johnson: Certainly. Think about this. It is EASY to avoid buying things because you honestly don’t want to, than to force yourself to go without. If you are SMART about money, then you don’t enjoy wasting it!
Host: That makes sense, but how can we change our attitudes for the GOOD?
Mrs. Johnson: People usually think about their money as numbers. But it is USEFUL to think of it as your time. It you make $10.00 an hour, and you spend $5.00 a day at the coffee shop, you are working half an hour every day for someone else to make you a cup of coffee. Wouldn’t it be WISE to spend five minutes making your own coffee, and to bring it with you?
Host: That’s actually a ACCURATE way to think about it. We know exactly what a half hour of labour is. Dollars feel ABSTRACT.
Mrs. Johnson: Exactly! And it’s especially good to keep this in mind when you are tempted to impulse buy.
Host: You talk a lot about impulse buying in your book. Why is your advice RELEVANT in these situations that others?
Mrs. Johnson: Well, when we are tempted to impulse shop, we only think of two options, having the object, or not having it. But instead of thinking of it that way, it’s PRACTICAL to think ‘I could have that thing, or I could have anything else in the world that is worth those hours of my time’.
Host: Hum. Could you give us an example, to make it a bit CLEAR for our listeners?
Mrs. Johnson: Of course. Imagine that you are bored, waiting in line at a store. There are lots of silly, little things to buy that you don’t need. Some object or other catches your attention. You start to think, ‘would my desk look CUTE with that nick-knack on it?’ Or, ‘would my bathroom smell FANCY with those incense sticks?’
But you could be asking INTERESTING questions. Stores are carefully designed to manipulate customers, so that the businesses have HIGH profits. But if you are INTENTIONAL in your thinking, you will probably realize that there are a million other things that you’d rather do with your time, than to trade it for bobbles.
Host: Thank you so much for chatting with us today, and sharing your insightful ideas! I’m sure that we’ll all be HAPPY and have RICH lives once we read your book!
Mrs. Johnson: I hope that you all read it, and that it helps you feel FULFILLED.
Host: Next week, we’re going to learn more about Mrs. Johnson’s philosophy. Looking forward to learning more ways to save money, from expert Mrs. Johnson! See you next week!
GO TO EPISODE 2 NOW!
