GV

Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

Comparing actions: faster, more quickly, most carefully

intermediate

When to Use Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

  • •Comparing actions: She runs faster than me.
  • •Comparing how things are done: He speaks more clearly than his brother.
  • •Superlative actions: She works the hardest of all.
  • •Irregular forms: He did better than expected.
  • •With 'than' for comparisons: They arrived earlier than us.

How to Form Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

Affirmative (+)

Short adverbs: -er/-est (faster, fastest) | Long adverbs: more/most + adverb

Negative (-)

She doesn't run as fast as him. / less quickly

Question (?)

Who works harder?

💡 Short adverbs (fast, hard, early) add -er/-est. Long adverbs (-ly words) use more/most.

Examples of Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

✓She speaks more fluently than her sister.

✗She speaks fluenter than her sister.

Long adverbs (fluently) use 'more', not -er.

✓He runs faster than anyone else.

✗He runs more fast than anyone else.

Short adverbs (fast) add -er, not 'more'.

✓She performed the best of all the candidates.

✗She performed the most well of all the candidates.

Well → better → best (irregular).

Common Mistakes with Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

💡 Practice Tips for Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

  • • Short adverbs: fast → faster → fastest, hard → harder → hardest
  • • Long adverbs: carefully → more carefully → most carefully
  • • Irregular: well → better → best, badly → worse → worst
  • • Early: earlier → earliest (changes y to i)
  • • Same form as adjective: fast, hard, early, late, high, low
Quick Quiz
  1. 1.Tom runs   than his brother.
  2. 2.She explained the problem   than her teacher did.
  3. Question 3: Of all the team, she works blank (hard).
    3.Of all the team, she works (hard).
  4. Question 4: He sings blank (good) than I expected.
    4.He sings (good) than I expected.
  5. Question 5: She did blank (bad) on this test than on the last one.
    5.She did (bad) on this test than on the last one.
  6. Question 6: Of all the runners, Maria finished blank (early).
    6.Of all the runners, Maria finished (early).
  7. Question 7: Could you speak blank (slowly), please?
    7.Could you speak (slowly), please?
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