The Superlative Temples

Task 1

The pictures below illustrate the comparative and superlative forms of three common adjectives in English.

Go to the green button below (Comparative and Superlative Forms) to view the chart with the rules for this grammatical stucture.

Task 2

• Read the following text about the Pre-Historic Sites that there are in Malta.

• Copy the text and fill in the gaps with the correct form of the adjective in brackets

There are seven megalithic temples in Malta and some of them are 1) _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _  (old) temples in the world. These temples were built in three different time periods and most of them are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They are 2) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (early) free-standing stone buildings in the world. Some are even 3) _ _ _ _ _  (old)  than Stonehenge and the pyramids in Egypt.  

The Gġantija Temple, in Gozo is  4)   _ _ _  _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (important) temple in the Bronze Age Period because the stones used are very, very big. 

The temples of Hagar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien are 5) _ _ _  _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (special) because at that time, in the 4th and 3rd millenia BCE, the builders had very little resources to work with.

6) _ _ _  _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _  (unique) and 7) _ _ _  _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   (protected) temple is the Hypogeum, in Tarxien. This is 8) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ (old) underground cemetry in the world. 

Task 3 

Look at the chart below. Here you can see some of the Temples in the order they were built. 

Follow the chart and fill in the gaps in the sentences with the correct form of the adjectives in brackets by adding -er, -est, more or most.

1. Ta Hagrat Temple is (old) 1) _ _ _ _ _  than Skorba but Xemxija is (old) 2) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _  temple in Malta.
2. Skorba Temple is a simple construction but Ta Hagrat is (simple)  3) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and Xemxija Temple is (simple) 4) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
3. The opposite of simple is complex. Ggantija is quite a complex structure but Mnajdra is (complex) 5) _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _  and Tarxien is  (complex) 6) _ _ _  _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _  temple in Malta.
4. The Ggantija Temples are (early) 7) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ temples on the island. In these temples you can find (large) 8) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ free-standing stones that were ever used in the construction of similar buildings.
5. Mnajdra Temple is (interesting) 9) _ _ _  _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  pre-historic building because it was built to record the months and seasons of the year.
6. In the Tarxien Temple, you can see the lower part of (large) 10) _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ statue that was discovered in any of the temples in Malta.

Task 4

If you need to check your answers to Tasks 2 and 3 go to the green button 'Tasks'.

For more information about the Temples in Malta click on the green buttons 'Mnajdra' and ' UNESCO Maltese Temples'

For more practice with the comparative and superlative forms click the green buttons 'Comparatives and Superlatives'