Comparison: adverbs (worse, more easily)

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Adverbs: comparative and superlative forms

Adverbs do not normally change in form, but a few have comparative and superlative
forms. These are usually short adverbs and so they normally have comparative and
superlative forms with -er and -est.

Some of the most common comparative and superlative adverbs are:

soon sooner soonest fast faster fastest

hard harder hardest near nearer nearest
early earlier earliest far farther/further farthest/furthest
late later latest

Teachers always say that students must work harder.

The kids were playing in the garden, seeing who could jump highest.

Warning:

We don’t use more or most together with an -er or -est ending:

Children learn things faster than adults.

Not: … more faster than adults.

Who ran slowest in the race?

Not: Who ran most slowest

Adverbs with more and most

Adverbs with two or more syllables form the comparative and superlative with more and
most:

We need to treat the environment more carefully.

It was the most beautifully designed chair.

Comparative adverbs: using than

When we mention the second person or thing in the comparison, we use than. We do not
use that or as. If the second person mentioned takes the form of a personal pronoun, we
normally use the object form of the pronoun (me, you, him, her, us, them):

I can’t keep up with him – he runs much faster than me.

Not: faster that me or faster as me

In more formal situations, instead of than + object pronoun, we can use than + subject
pronoun + be, do or a modal verb:

My wife drives more carefully than I do.

She can read music much more quickly than I can.

Well and badly

The adverb well has the same comparative and superlative forms as the adjective good
(better, best). The adverb badly has the comparative and superlative forms worse, worst:

[talking about playing tennis]

I played better yesterday but I need to improve my serve.

A lot of people behaved badly at the party, but she behaved worst of all.

Farther, farthest or further, furthest?

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Comparative forms
Farther and further are comparative adverbs or adjectives. They are the irregular
comparative forms of far. We use them to talk about distance. There is no difference in
meaning between them. Further is more common:
We can’t go any further; the road’s blocked.

After this, I felt a little refreshed but as I came over the hill, my legs rebelled. I could walk
no further.

How much farther are we going?

Farther, and, much less commonly, further can be used as adjectives to refer to distance
away from the speaker:

He could see a small boat on the farther shore.

At the further end of the village stood an old ruined house.

We often repeat farther or further to emphasise the distance:

‘I am just a little ship,’ Aunt Emily said, ‘drifting farther and farther out to sea.’

We often use along with farther and further:

Ben Gunn had told me his boat was hidden near the white rock, and I found that rock
farther along the beach.

We often use a little, a bit or a lot before further and farther:

[in an aerobics exercise class]

Now push and stretch that arm just a little further and count to ten.

Superlative forms
Farthest and furthest are superlative adjectives or adverbs. They are the irregular
superlative forms of far. We use them to talk about distance. There is no difference in
meaning between them. Furthest is more common than farthest:

The furthest galaxies are about three thousand million light years away.

Go on, boys! Let’s see who can run furthest.

Viv took a corner seat farthest away from the door.

Further (but not farther)
There are some occasions when we can use further but not farther.

We use further before a noun to mean ‘extra’, ‘additional’ or ‘a higher level’:

For further information, please ring 095-6710090.

A further door led off to the right, with a tiled passage taking her to the bathroom, and
another large square room at the end, which was probably the dining-room.

She’s gone to a college of further education. (a place to study practical subjects from age
17)

We also use further to mean ‘more’:

I do not propose to discuss it any further.

Before you look at your programme, let me explain a little further.

The expression further to is often used in formal letters and emails when someone writes as
a follow-up to a previous letter or email:

Further to my email of 22nd January, I’m now writing to ask if you have considered our
offer and whether you wish to proceed with the contract.
Adverbs: forms
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Adverbs ending in -ly

Adverbs have a strong connection with adjectives. Adjectives and adverbs are usually
based on the same word. Adverbs often have the form of an adjective + -ly.

Compare
adjective adverb
He was calm when I told him. He behaved calmly.
That was a beautiful presentation, Carla. Your work is beautifully presented, Carla.

Adverbs ending in -ly are usually adverbs of manner (slowly) and degree (completely,
fairly).

Adverbs formed from adjectives ending in -l have double l:

beautiful → beautifully, careful → carefully, hopeful → hopefully, historical →

historically

Magda looked hopefully at her mother.

Historically, there was never any conflict between the two communities.

Adverbs formed from adjectives ending in -y change the y to i:

easy → easily, busy → busily, lucky → luckily, angry → angrily

Luckily, I had a backup copy of the data on a disk.

I’ve never seen him react so angrily.

Adverbs ending in a consonant +e keep the e:

definite → definitely, fortunate → fortunately, extreme → extremely, absolute → absolutely

I am extremely grateful to you.

We were absolutely exhausted at the end of it all.

Adverbs ending in -ward(s) or -wise
There is a small group of adverbs which end in -ward(s) or -wise. The -ward(s) words can
end in either -ward or -wards (inward, inwards).

1. -wards: inwards, eastwards, upwards, downwards

2. -wise: clockwise, lengthwise, likewise

The doctor asked her to move her head upwards but she couldn’t.

Turn the handle clockwise to start it.

He’s the one that they all love. Whatever he does, they do likewise. (They do the same
thing.)

Adverbs with the same form as adjectives

Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives. The most common are: fast (not fastly),
left, hard, outside, right, straight, late, well, and time words such as daily, weekly, monthly,
yearly.

Compare
adjective adverb
This coconut is really hard. You’ll need a
You have to bang the door hard to shut it.
hammer to break it up.
She drives a fast car. They can swim quite fast now actually.
An outside light would be a really good idea for When I went outside, the light came on
our house. automatically.
I get a monthly pay cheque. My company pays me monthly.
Warning:

Don’t confuse adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives modify nouns or are used after verbs such
as be, become, seem, look, smell, taste.

She walks very elegantly. (adverb of manner, describing how she walks)

He wore an elegant suit and a silk tie. (adjective describing the suit)

She looks very elegant in that long skirt. (adjective after look)
Adjectives ending in -ly
Some adjectives end in -ly, e.g. lively, lonely, ugly. We don’t form adverbs from these
adjectives because they are not easy to pronounce. We usually reword what we want to say
instead.

Don’t act in a silly way.

Not: Don’t act sillily.

She said it in a friendly way.

Not: She said it friendlily.

Adverbs not related to adjectives

Some adverbs (e.g. just, quite, so, soon, too, very) are not directly related to adjectives:

This is just what I am looking for. (just = exactly)

These cups are not quite the same. (not quite = not exactly)

Why is this road so narrow?

I look forward to seeing you soon.

That’s too expensive.

That’s a very strange story.

Gradable adverbs
Most adverbs, like most adjectives, are gradable (they can express different degrees of
qualities, properties, states, conditions and relations). We can modify adverbs using other
types of adverbs and comparative forms to make longer adverb phrases.

Compare
He plays the piano amazingly.
really is a degree adverb
He plays the piano really amazingly.
She played golf skilfully this time. more is a degree adverb

She played golf more skilfully this time. more skilfully is a comparative form

Comparativo y superlativo de los

adverbios
Con los adverbios terminados en -ly, se utiliza more para formar el comparativo y most para
formar el superlativo.

Adverbio Comparativo Superlativo

quietly more quietly most quietly

slowly more slowly most slowly

seriously more seriously most seriously

Ejemplos

 The teacher spoke more slowly to help us to understand.

 Could you sing more quietly please?

En el caso de adverbios cortos que no terminan en -ly, las formas comparativas y

superlativas son idénticas a los adjetivos: se añade -er para formar el comparativo y -est
para formar el superlativo. Si el adverbio termina en e, se elimina esta última vocal antes de
añadir la terminación.

Adverbio Comparativo Superlativo

hard harder hardest

fast faster fastest

late later latest

Ejemplos

 Jim works harder than his brother.

 Everyone in the race ran fast, but John ran the fastest of all.

Ciertos adverbios tienen formas irregulares en el comparativo y superlativo.

Adverbio Comparativo Superlativo

badly worse worst

far farther/further farthest/furthest

little less least

well better best

Ejemplos

 The little boy ran farther than his friends.

 You're driving worse today than yesterday !
 He played the best of any player.