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Explain it in ten hundred words: comparisons for explaining tech in simple words

Comparisons for explaining tech in simple words are the focus of this B1 English for IT lesson plan.

Grammar
It's like… and Imagine… for a picture, much or a bit + comparative (much faster), as … as, the same as, similar to, different from and the superlative.
Topic
A developer at a fictional payments startup explains a 90-day limit to a bike shop owner, with words such as jargon, analogy, storage and latency.
Activities
A comic that explains a Moon rocket in common words, an email to the client and their call, self-checking drills, a chat and role cards, then an email and a recording for the teacher.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: Say It Simply

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words for plain explanationsVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2The Story: A Rocket in Simple Words

    • Read the story about Up Goer FiveArticleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer about the storyQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3At Work: A Wallet and a Bank

    • Read Iryna's email to BrunoReal-life documentTry it
    • True or false? Check the emailTrue or falseUnlock
    • Choose the clearest answer for a clientQuizUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Listen: Ninety Days at the Counter

    • Listen to Iryna and Bruno's callListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • True or false? Check the callTrue or falseUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Grammar: Much Faster, Not as Heavy

    • Study the scheme: comparisons for plain explanationsGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct option to complete each explanationChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: make the comparative with the words in bracketsFill in the gapsTry it
    • Rewrite each technical sentence in plain words: fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps in Iryna's email to ErinDrag and dropUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Speak Up: Explain the Limit

    • Choose the right replies to FatimaChatTry it
    • Open a box: take a role and explain the limitOpen the boxUnlock

  7. Chapter 7Homework: Plain Words for Clients

    • Read your phrase bankReal-life documentUnlock
    • Do you remember? Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Is the sentence correct? True or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Write an email that explains a limit to a non-technical clientWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record yourself explaining a limit in plain wordsSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

25 exercises in 7 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • a non-technical client
  • a limit
  • storage
  • offline
  • sync
  • free up
  • heavy
  • speed up
  • latency

Grammar: comparisons for plain explanations

A client who thinks the app is broken needs a picture, not jargon. Explaining why a payments app keeps only 90 days of payments on the phone, learners give one familiar picture, then compare clearly: Imagine your phone is a wallet, then much heavier, not as big as and the best place.

Explaining simply: compare it with something they know

Give the listener a picture (It's like…, Imagine…), then compare clearly: much faster than, not as heavy as, the same as, the best place.

Give a picture first

Three phrases open a plain explanation: It's like + a noun (The app is like a wallet.), It works like + a noun for how something behaves, and Imagine + a whole sentence: Imagine your phone is a wallet.

PhraseUse it to…Example
It's like + nouncompare a new idea with something familiarThe app is like a wallet.
It works like + nounshow how something worksThe search works like a phone call: no signal, no answer.
Imagine + sentencestart a picture in the listener's headImagine your phone is a wallet.

Much faster, slightly slower

Much and a lot mark a big difference, a bit and slightly a small one, and very never goes before a comparative. As … as means equal and not as … as means less, while three phrases keep fixed words: the same as, similar to, different from.

PatternMeaningExample
much / a lot + comparativea big difference (never very)The app is much faster than the dashboard.
a bit / slightly + comparativea small differenceThe dashboard is slightly slower on a phone.
as + adjective + asequalThe Saturn V was about as tall as a 36-story building.
not as + adjective + aslessA wallet isn't as big as a bank.
the same asno differenceThe numbers are the same as in the app.
similar to / different fromalmost the same / not the sameThe search is similar to the dashboard search.
the + superlativenumber one in a groupThe dashboard is the best place for old payments.

Faster, bigger, heavier, more useful

Short adjectives add -er and -est (faster, the safest), big doubles its last letter (bigger), and -y turns into -ier (heavier). Long adjectives take more and the most, and good and bad change completely: better, the worst.

AdjectiveComparativeSuperlative
fast, slow, safefaster, slower, saferthe fastest, the slowest, the safest
big (one vowel + one consonant)biggerthe biggest
heavy, easy (-y → -ier)heavier, easierthe heaviest, the easiest
expensive, useful (long)more expensive, more usefulthe most expensive, the most useful
good / badbetter / worsethe best / the worst

Comparisons from a real client email

The examples come from an email and a call with a bike shop owner. One comparison from the listener's world beats three, and a plain explanation ends with a check: Does that make sense?

From Iryna's email and call

  • Imagine your phone is a wallet and the web dashboard is your bank.a picture
  • Your wallet isn't as big as the bank, but it's always in your pocket.less
  • Three years of payments make the app much heavier.a big difference
  • On a phone, the dashboard is slightly slower than the app.a small difference
  • The buttons are as small as grains of rice!equal
  • It's the best place for older payments.number one

One good comparison

Choose a comparison from the listener's world: a wallet, a bank, a phone call, a delivery van. One good comparison is better than three. Put much, a lot, a bit or slightly right before the comparative (a bit more expensive), and check at the end: “Does that make sense?”

Typical mistakes

  • The app is more faster now. / The app is much more fast now.

    The app is much faster now.

    a short adjective takes -er, never more + -er

  • It's as fast than the old app.

    It's as fast as the old app.

    as … as, never as … than

  • The search is similar with the dashboard search.

    The search is similar to the dashboard search.

    similar to, different from

  • This is the most fast way.

    This is the fastest way.

    a short adjective: the + -est

More lessons on this grammar: Comparatives and superlatives lessons and exercises

Try the comparisons exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 12 auto-checked exercises
  • 3 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 2 real-life documents
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 1 audio clip
  • 1 picture
  • 1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • explain a new idea with a picture from the listener's world: It's like a wallet. Imagine your phone is a wallet.
  • show the size of a difference with much, a lot, a bit or slightly: much heavier, slightly slower
  • compare with not as … as, the same as, similar to and different from: A wallet isn't as big as a bank.
  • explain a technical limit to a non-technical client, then agree on three user stories together

Lesson 21 closes Users and clients, unit 7 of English for IT B1 · Inside the Team, where learners ask clarifying questions and explain technical ideas in simple words. It follows the user stories of lesson 19 and the reported speech of lesson 20, and puts the comparatives and as … as of A2.1 lessons 10 and 15 to work on a client's question. As the unit's third lesson, it also carries the work task and a short unit review.

After a wheel of questions about explaining their work, students learn twelve words with pictures and audio, from jargon to latency. The story is Up Goer Five, a 2012 xkcd comic that explains NASA's Saturn V Moon rocket with only the thousand most common English words. At work, a developer's email tells a bike shop owner why the app shows only 90 days of payments, and their call (an AI-voiced dialogue) ends with three user stories. Four self-checking drills follow the scheme, among them technical sentences to rewrite in plain words.

In a chat, students help a colleague explain the limit to merchants; open boxes then hand out role cards for a developer, three clients, a support lead and a product owner, who agree on three user stories. Homework starts with a phrase bank; a quiz and true-or-false sentences that review the unit's grammar and a memory game check themselves, and an email explaining a limit to a client and a short recording go to the teacher.

Grammar:
comparatives and superlatives · as … as · similar to, different from
Topic:
explaining technical ideas · clients · plain language · user stories

Teaching tips

  • With an in-company group, start from a real limit in the team's own product, such as a file size or a timeout: pairs explain it as developer and client, and the group picks the clearest comparison.
  • Pause the call after as small as grains of rice and ask which comparisons each speaker has used so far, and which one a client would remember. Then play the rest for the three user stories.
  • One-to-one, play a client who knows nothing: the learner explains a limit from their own work, and you reply only So, in other words…? until one comparison lands.
  • Try the comic's game before the story: learners describe their job in very common words, and the group calls out every term a client wouldn't know.

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The whole course: English for IT B1 · Inside the Team

24 lessons at B1 for people who build, test or run software, in American English. Learners follow Iryna, a junior developer, through her first year at Kestrel Cloud, a fictional payments startup: standups, tickets, code review, chats across time zones and job interviews. Each lesson is built around a true story from software history.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Hello, team

    roles, stacks and first days: the present simple, the present perfect with for and since, question forms

    1. Lesson 1How big is a two-pizza team?Present simple for jobs and responsibilities
    2. Lesson 2Your first "Hello, World"Present perfect with for and since
    3. Lesson 3Write your personal READMEQuestion forms for getting to know colleagues

  2. Unit 2 The daily standup

    updates and blockers: the present simple and continuous, just, already and yet, have to and need to

    1. Lesson 4Why is it called a scrum?Present simple vs continuous and state verbs
    2. Lesson 5Done, not done yetPast simple, present perfect and going to for updates
    3. Lesson 6Help, I'm blocked!Have to, need to, don't have to and can't

  3. Unit 3 Bugs and tickets

    clear bug reports: the past continuous, imperatives and the zero conditional, quantifiers

    1. Lesson 7The first actual bugPast simple and past continuous for bug stories
    2. Lesson 8Steps to reproduceImperatives and the zero conditional for bug reports
    3. Lesson 9The email that couldn't go 500 milesQuantifiers in bug tickets

  4. Unit 4 Code review

    kind, useful comments: -ed and -ing adjectives, modals for suggestions, the first conditional

    1. Lesson 10What's a nit?-ed and -ing adjectives in review comments
    2. Lesson 11Could we maybe…?Modals for suggestions in code review
    3. Lesson 12Your first pull requestThe first conditional and unless in code review

  5. Unit 5 How it works

    explaining systems step by step: time clauses, the passive, relative clauses

    1. Lesson 13What happens when you type a URL?Time clauses with as soon as, until and once
    2. Lesson 14How is a barcode read?The present and past simple passive
    3. Lesson 15Draw it, then say itDefining relative clauses

  6. Unit 6 Remote and async

    chat, email and time zones: polite requests, future forms, the present perfect continuous

    1. Lesson 16Just say what you needPolite requests and indirect questions
    2. Lesson 17Your 9 a.m. is my noonFuture forms for plans across time zones
    3. Lesson 18Write it downPresent perfect continuous for status updates

  7. Unit 7 Users and clients

    user stories and plain explanations: verb + to or -ing, reported speech, comparisons

    1. Lesson 19As a user, I want…Verb + to or verb + -ing
    2. Lesson 20"The client said it was broken"Reported speech for client calls
    3. Lesson 21 · you're hereExplain it in ten hundred wordsComparisons for plain explanations

  8. Unit 8 Your next job

    resumes and interviews: used to, the past perfect, the second conditional

    1. Lesson 22A resume that shows resultsUsed to for your career path
    2. Lesson 23Tell me about a time when…The past perfect for STAR stories
    3. Lesson 24What would you do if…?The second conditional for interviews

Questions about this lesson

How do you use "similar to" in English?
Use similar to when two things are almost the same: The search is similar to the dashboard search. The preposition is always to, so similar with is a mistake. When both things are the subject, similar stands alone: The two searches are similar. One drill in Explain it in ten hundred words, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, makes learners choose between similar to, similar with and similar as.
Is it "different from" or "different than"?
Both appear in American English, but different from is the safe choice, especially before a noun: A phone screen is very different from a laptop screen. Different than is common in speech and before a whole clause: The new search is different than I expected. Different to is mostly British. In client emails and documentation, different from never sounds wrong.
How do you explain technical things in simple words?
Give a picture the listener already knows, then compare: Imagine a delivery van. A small box is much easier to carry than a piano. Then link it to the problem: big photos are like pianos, much slower to load on a phone. Use short sentences, swap jargon for everyday words and say what the person can do next. Finish by checking that they followed: Does that make sense?
How do you use much, a lot and a bit with comparatives?
Put much, a lot, a bit or slightly before the comparative: much faster, a lot heavier, a bit slower, slightly bigger. Much and a lot show a big difference; a bit and slightly show a small one. They work with long adjectives too: a bit more expensive. Very doesn't work here, so say much faster, never very faster.
Is it "more faster" or "much faster"?
It's much faster, because faster is already a comparative. A short adjective takes -er or more, never both, so more faster and much more fast are wrong, while long adjectives take more: much more expensive. Superlatives follow the same rule: the fastest way, not the most fast way. The chat on this page, from Explain it in ten hundred words on edio.ai, hides much more heavy and the most good among its replies.
Is it "as fast as" or "as fast than"?
It's as fast as, never as fast than: the pattern is as + adjective + as. The Android app is as big as the iOS app. For less, add not: On a phone, the dashboard isn't as fast as the app. Than follows only a comparative (faster than), and the same takes as too: the same as in the app, not the same like.
What does "explain like I'm five" mean?
It's a request to explain something in the simplest possible words, with no jargon, as you would to a child. People often write it as ELI5 when a topic is full of technical terms. A good answer takes one picture from everyday life, such as A cache is like a notebook by the cash register: the app keeps the answers it needs most often. Keep the sentences short, and keep the exact terms for the experts.
How do you explain a technical limit to a non-technical client?
Say it's a limit, not a bug, then explain it with one comparison: It isn't broken. Imagine your phone is a wallet and the web dashboard is your bank. Give the reason in plain words (Three years of payments make the app much heavier), then say what the client can do now. A developer's email in Explain it in ten hundred words, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, follows these steps.
How do you write like Up Goer Five?
Write with only the thousand most common English words, and swap every technical term for plain ones. That's the rule of Up Goer Five, a 2012 xkcd comic about NASA's Saturn V Moon rocket. It calls the rocket an up goer, probably because rocket isn't on the list, and says ten hundred for thousand. A Simple Writer page on xkcd.com checks your words. Try it with your own job.
How do I teach comparatives and superlatives to IT professionals?
Teach them as tools for explaining, not as a table: start from a real limit in the learners' product and compare it with something a client knows. Then drill the forms (faster, heavier, more useful, the best) and add much or a bit. In Explain it in ten hundred words, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, learners rewrite technical sentences in plain words: A password alone isn't as safe as two-factor login.
What's good homework for practicing comparisons?
Good homework is an email that explains a real limit to a client, since it makes learners pick one comparison and use it well: A phone on a busy counter isn't as safe as a phone in your pocket. In the B1 English for IT lesson Explain it in ten hundred words on edio.ai, a quiz and a memory game check themselves first; the email and a recording then go to the teacher.
Are there interactive exercises for comparisons?
Yes: gap-fills and chat replies that check themselves show at once whether a comparison is right. Without an account, this page plays four parts of Explain it in ten hundred words, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai: a developer's email to a bike shop owner, their call, a gap-fill with forms such as much faster, and a chat in which students help a colleague explain a limit. The other exercises are locked.
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