Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in

Espresso English Blog

View all entries from Espresso English Blog >

February 27, 2012

Learn English Words - Big and Small

Use big and small to talk about the general size of something.

  • Elephants are big.
  • Mice are small.

 

With clothing and food, we use large, not big:

  • I ordered a big coffee with milk.
  • I ordered a large coffee with milk.


  • “This shirt is too small for me.”
  • “What size is it?”
  • “Medium.”
  • “OK, I’ll get you a large.

Huge / Tiny

Huge = Very big
Tiny = Very small

  • Their new house is huge! I think it has 50 rooms.
  • “Do you want any cake?”
    “Just a tiny piece. I’m on a diet.”

 

Learn English Words: Long and Short

Use long and short to talk about length (horizontal distance). You can also use long and short with time, books, words/sentences, hair, and legs:

  • The line to buy tickets for the concert is very long. There are hundreds of people waiting.
  • The movie is really long - about three hours.
  • That book is quite long - it has about 500 pages.
  • Academic writing often uses very long sentences.
  • She has short blonde hair and gorgeous long legs.

There are two ways to talk about distance (kilometers or miles):

  • The beach is far from my house.
  • The beach is a long way from my house.
  • The beach is long from my house.

Learn English Words: Tall and Short

Use tall and short to talk about height (vertical distance) – especially with people, but sometimes also with buildings and trees.

  • My brother is really tall. 
  • New York City has a lot of tall buildings.
  • There are many tall trees in the Amazon rain forest.

Click here to get all the new English lessons by e-mail!

More entries: 16 Slang Words >> Food & Drink (1), Travel English Speaking Course (1), Free English Grammar E-Book - Level 2, 8 verbs that 80% of English learners confuse (3), English vocab with pictures - 20 words about water (2), 10 phrasal verbs with UP, Business English Dictionary - A (1), What is fluent English?, 36 expressions with GET, Difference between Big, Small, Long, Short, Tall, Huge, and Tiny

View all entries from Espresso English Blog >