🍂 Autumn, Poetry & Advanced English

John Keats, Grammar Revision & Degrees of Comparison

🍁 Exercise 1. The Story Behind To Autumn

🕰️ Grammar & Literature Quiz

Task: Complete the story of John Keats’s To Autumn. Choose the verb form that best fits each sentence. Pay attention to the relationship between different moments in time.

📚 Useful Vocabulary

🍂 to be inspired by — быць натхнёным чымсьці
🌾 a stubble field — поле пасля жніва
🚶 to go for a walk — пайсці на шпацыр
🌤️ a crisp autumn day — свежы восеньскі дзень
✍️ to compose a poem — напісаць верш
🌳 the English countryside — англійская сельская мясцовасць
⏳ the passing of time — плынь часу
🌱 the cycle of nature — цыкл прыроды
🍎 ripening fruit — садавіна, што спее
🌅 the end of a season — канец пары года

🍎 The Quiz

🍂 John Keats ___ To Autumn on 19 September 1819 while he was staying in Winchester.

had written

wrote

has written

was writing

🚶 Before Keats ___ down to write the poem, he had gone for a walk through the countryside near Winchester.

had sat

sat

has sat

was sitting

🌾 During that walk, he ___ the stubble fields and the particular warmth of the autumn landscape.

had been noticing

noticed

has noticed

would notice

✉️ Later, Keats wrote to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds that he ___ stubble fields so much before.

had never liked

never liked

has never liked

would never like

🌤️ By the time he composed the ode, Keats ___ one of the most creative periods of his short literary career.

was already entering

had already entered

has already entered

would already enter

📖 During 1819, he ___ several of the poems that would later become his most celebrated works.

had been producing

produced

has produced

would have produced

🍎 In To Autumn, Keats describes a season in which fruit ___, crops are being harvested, and nature is slowly preparing for change.

ripened

ripens

has ripened

had ripened

⏳ Instead of simply mourning the fact that summer ___, the poem finds beauty in autumn itself.

had ended

has been ending

would end

was ending

🌅 Nearly two centuries later, readers ___ To Autumn as one of Keats’s best-known poems, partly because it transforms an ordinary seasonal landscape into a meditation on time and change.

still read

had still read

were still reading

will have still read

📖 Exercise 2. Before We Read

🍎 Vocabulary from To Autumn

Read the expressions aloud. They will help you understand both the poem and its imagery.

🌫️ mellow fruitfulness — спелая, багатая ўрадлівасць
☀️ the maturing sun — сонца, пад якім усё спее
🍇 to load with fruit — напаўняць пладамі
🍎 ripeness to the core — спеласць да самай сярэдзіны
🌰 a sweet kernel — салодкае ядро арэха
🐝 warm days will never cease — цёплыя дні ніколі не скончацца
🌾 a granary floor — падлога ў збожжасховішчы
🌬️ the winnowing wind — вецер, што развейвае мякіну
🌾 a half-reaped furrow — напалову зжатая баразна
😴 sound asleep — моцна спаць
🍎 a cider press — прэс для сідру
🌅 a soft-dying day — дзень, што павольна згасае
🌸 the songs of spring — песні вясны
🐑 full-grown lambs — падрослыя ягняты
🐦 gathering swallows — ластаўкі, якія збіраюцца ў чароды

🍂 John Keats — To Autumn

I

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

II

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,

Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

III

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

🍁 After Reading

💭 Which image from the poem feels the most autumnal to you? Why?

🌅 Does Keats present autumn as something sad, peaceful, abundant, or all three at once?
⏳ Why do you think the poem moves from ripe fruit at the beginning to a “soft-dying day” at the end?
🎵 What might Keats mean when he says that autumn has its own “music”?
🌱 Do you think people sometimes fail to appreciate the present because they are waiting for another “season” of their lives?

🧠 Exercise 3. The Ultimate Grammar Revision

🎯 Choose the only correct answer

Some questions revise familiar rules. Others contain small traps.

📰 Singular or Plural?

📰 The news about the sudden change ___ surprisingly encouraging.

are

were

is

have been

👮 The police ___ already questioned several people about the incident.

has

have

is

was

💡 The advice she gave me ___ far more useful than I had expected.

were

was

have been

are

✂️ These scissors ___ much sharper than the pair I used yesterday.

is

are

has been

was

🔬 This species ___ becoming increasingly rare in this part of Europe.

are

have

is

were

⏳ Tenses

🌧️ When we finally reached the park, it ___ for nearly two hours.

rained

had been raining

has rained

was rained

🍂 This time next month, most of the leaves ___ from the trees.

will fall

will be falling

will have fallen

have fallen

📚 By next June, he ___ English seriously for three years.

will study

will have been studying

will be studying

has studied

🚪 I ___ the house when I suddenly realised that I had left my keys upstairs.

was about to leave

have left

had been leaving

would have left

🌙 Conditionals

🌧️ If the weather were warmer today, we ___ for a long walk.

would go

would have gone

will go

had gone

🚉 If we had left five minutes earlier, we ___ the train.

would catch

would have caught

caught

had caught

😴 If I had gone to bed earlier last night, I ___ so exhausted now.

wouldn’t have been

wouldn’t be

won’t be

hadn’t been

📖 If he were generally more organised, he ___ that deadline last week.

wouldn’t miss

wouldn’t have missed

hadn’t missed

won’t have missed

🧠 Modal Verbs + Perfect Infinitive

📱 His phone is switched off. He ___ the battery before leaving home.

must forget to charge

might have forgotten to charge

should forget charging

can have forgotten charging

🎟️ We bought tickets in advance, but admission turned out to be free. We ___ them.

mustn’t have bought

needn’t have bought

couldn’t buy

shouldn’t buy

🗝️ The door was locked from the inside. He ___ through that entrance.

can’t have entered

must enter

should have entered

needn’t enter

🔄 Used to / Would / Be Used to / Get Used to

🏫 When I was at school, I ___ spend hours reading after classes.

was used to

would

got used to

am used to

🌅 At first, waking up at six was horrible, but eventually I ___ it.

used to

would

got used to

was used

💻 I ___ working with several windows open, so it doesn’t distract me anymore.

used to

am used to

would

get use to

⏰ Time Expressions

🚉 We reached the station just ___ to catch the last train.

on time

in time

at the time

at times

🎓 The lecture began exactly at 10:00, so at least the professor was ___.

in time

on time

at times

by the time

🍂 ___ we reached the forest, the rain had already stopped.

At the time

On time

By the time

At a time

🧩 Gerund or Infinitive?

📚 I strongly recommend ___ the chapter again before the exam.

to read

reading

read

to reading

📱 Try ___ your phone in another room if notifications keep distracting you.

to leave

leaving

leave

to leaving

☕ We stopped ___ some coffee because we still had another three hours to drive.

getting

get

to get

to getting

🧠 I still remember ___ that question correctly for the first time.

to answer

answer

answering

to answering

🎯 One Last Trap

🍁 Everyone in the group ___ their own opinion about the poem.

have

has

are having

have had

🌍 Exercise 4. Translate into Natural English

📝 Task

Translate the sentences into English. Try to use the expressions you have already learnt instead of translating word for word.

🍂 Як вынік, мы вырашылі не адмяняць шпацыр, нягледзячы на халоднае надвор’е.
🌧️ Наадварот, дождж зрабіў восеньскі горад яшчэ больш атмасферным.
🧠 Я думаю, што мы часам занадта хутка робім высновы, не ведаючы ўсёй сітуацыі.
📚 Як вынік, мне давялося даганяць тое, што я прапусціў на мінулым тыдні.
💬 Наадварот, ён не спрабаваў пазбегнуць размовы і адкрыта сказаў, што яго турбуе.
🎯 Я думаю, што мне нарэшце ўдалося знайсці баланс паміж вучобай і адпачынкам.
📱 Як вынік, я стаў лягчэй адцягвацца і вырашыў адключыць апавяшчэнні.
🌿 Наадварот, пасля некалькіх тыдняў я прызвычаіўся да новага раскладу і стаў адчуваць сябе больш спакойна.
⏳ Я думаю, што нам не варта чакаць ідэальнага моманту, каб пачаць нешта новае.
🎓 Як вынік, нагрузка аказалася значна большай, чым я першапачаткова чакаў.
🗣️ Наадварот, чым больш ён тлумачыў сваю думку, тым менш пераканаўча яна гучала.
🍁 Я думаю, што час ад часу карысна спыніцца і заўважыць, як шмат ужо змянілася.

📈 Exercise 5. Adjectives & Adverbs

Comparative & Superlative Forms

📚 The Essential Theory

Type	Comparative	Superlative
🍏 short adjective	-er	the -est
🌿 small	smaller	the smallest
🍂 quiet	quieter	the quietest
📖 long adjective	more + adjective	the most + adjective
🎨 beautiful	more beautiful	the most beautiful
🧠 complicated	more complicated	the most complicated
⚡ short adverb	-er	the -est
🚗 fast	faster	the fastest
🗣️ hard	harder	the hardest
🌙 -ly adverb	more + adverb	the most + adverb
🎯 carefully	more carefully	the most carefully
💬 clearly	more clearly	the most clearly

⚠️ Important Irregular Forms

Base form	Comparative	Superlative
good / well	better	the best
bad / badly	worse	the worst
far	farther / further	the farthest / furthest
little	less	the least
much / many	more	the most

🧩 Remember

Adjective describes a noun:

🍁 It was a beautiful evening.

Adverb usually describes a verb:

🎨 She painted the landscape beautifully.

🔥 Useful Structures

much / far / a lot + comparative

🍂 Autumn is much colder than summer.

slightly / a little + comparative

🌤️ Today is slightly warmer than yesterday.

the + comparative..., the + comparative...

📚 The more carefully you read, the more easily you notice the details.

one of the + superlative + plural noun

📖 It is one of the most famous poems Keats ever wrote.

🍎 Comparative or Superlative?

📝 Task

Put the adjective or adverb in brackets into the correct comparative or superlative form.

🍂 This September has been __________ than the previous one. (warm)
📖 To Autumn is one of the __________ poems Keats ever wrote. (famous)
🌫️ The fog became __________ as we moved farther away from the city centre. (thick)
🗣️ Could you speak a little __________? I didn’t catch the last sentence. (slowly)
🌳 Of all the parks we visited, this one was by far the __________. (peaceful)
🧠 The __________ I thought about the question, the __________ it became. (carefully / complicated)
📱 He responds to messages much __________ now than he did last year. (quickly)
🎓 This semester is considerably __________ than the previous one. (demanding)
🌧️ It rained __________ yesterday than it had all week. (heavily)
🎨 She explained her idea __________ than anyone else in the group. (clearly)
🚆 Which route will get us there __________? (fast)
🍎 These apples are slightly __________ than the ones we bought last week. (sweet)
📚 That was probably the __________ question in the entire test. (difficult)
🧩 The new system works __________ than the old one, although it is still not perfect. (well)
🌙 Of everyone at the meeting, he reacted the __________ to the unexpected news. (calmly)
💻 The __________ the programme becomes, the __________ it is to use without instructions. (complex / difficult)
🍁 This is easily one of the __________ autumn evenings we have had this year. (beautiful)