Comparing Animals

1Who is the biggest?

At break time, Mugisha and Keza are arguing. “The elephant is the biggest animal in Akagera!” says Mugisha. “No, the giraffe is!” says Keza. They are both a little bit right. An elephant is heavier, but a giraffe is taller.

Today you will read a story about a big animal and a small animal, and learn to compare animals.

2Listen and read: Why hippos have no hair

Listen to the story (audio, read by Darshan Soni). You can also open the Storybooks Rwanda page to read it in Kinyarwanda and French. The text below is the whole story.

One day, Rabbit was walking by the riverside.

Hippo was there too, going for a stroll and eating some nice green grass.

Hippo didn't see that Rabbit was there and she accidentally stepped on Rabbit's foot. Rabbit started screaming at Hippo, “You Hippo! Can't you see that you're stepping on my foot?”

Hippo apologised to Rabbit, “I'm so sorry. I didn't see you. Please forgive me!” But Rabbit wouldn't listen and he shouted at Hippo, “You did that on purpose! Someday, you'll see! You're going to pay!”

Rabbit went to find Fire and said, “Go, burn Hippo when she comes out of the water to eat grass. She stepped on me!” Fire answered, “No problem, Rabbit, my friend. I'll do just what you ask.”

Later, Hippo was eating grass far from the river when, “Whoosh!” Fire burst into flame. The flames began to burn Hippo's hair.

Hippo started to cry and ran for the water. All her hair was burned off by the fire. Hippo kept crying, “My hair has burned in the fire! My hair is all gone! My beautiful hair!”

Rabbit was happy that Hippo's hair was burned. And to this day, for fear of fire, the hippo never goes far from the water.

Read and think

3Comparing two animals: -er than, more … than

Look at these facts. The numbers are for a grown-up animal and are only “about”.

• Short words add -er: tall → A giraffe is taller than an elephant. fast → A lion is faster than a hippo.
• Short words ending in one vowel + one consonant double the last letter: big → A hippo is bigger than a rabbit.
• Words ending in -y change y to i: heavy → An elephant is heavier than a giraffe. angry → Rabbit was angrier than Hippo.
• Long words use more: A lion is more dangerous than a rabbit.

4Comparing three or more: the -est, the most

• The giraffe is the tallest animal in the table.
• The elephant is the heaviest. The rabbit is the smallest.
• I think the lion is the most dangerous.

Tricky ones: good → better → the best; bad → worse → the worst.

Your turn: speak and write

Speak: Choose two animals from the table. Tell a friend three things: A … is taller / heavier / bigger than a … .

Write three sentences: one with -er than, one with more … than, and one with the -est.

Try it yourself

Write your answers in your exercise book, then check.