Unit 9bc Book

To describe basic shapes, you don´t need to use adjectives only. You can also change the word class and use corresponding nouns:

What shape is a CD?             – It is circular.            OR:                 It is a circle.

Do the same in this task.

Similarly, you can simply use another noun denoting a well-known shape to describe an object:

The roof is a dome. The roof is a pyramid.

Alternatively, you can add the word “-shaped” to a noun:

This is a heart-shaped box. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter.

Or you can use and adjective and add the phrase “in shape”:

It is conical in shape. It is pyramidal in shape.

Now, study this document to see some other expressions you can use to describe a component and its properties, including the shape, location and connection.

However, the problem is that if you change the word class, i.e. turn a noun into an adjective, sometimes there is a change in word stress. Sometimes there is no change, but sometimes the stress moves:

Practise this first in this listening task, where you are asked to listen and decide what you hear. A noun or and adjective? Then choose the pairs words which demonstrate the change in stress in this gap-fill task.