Lesson 6: Comparatives and Superlatives adverbs

Adverbs Comparative and Superlative

Comparative and Superlative of Adverbs are very similar to comparative and superlative of adjectives. Like adjectives, they have three forms of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative.

Form of comparison

Explanation

Examples

Positive

The positive degree expresses the quality without comparison The comparative degree compares two verbs, adjectives or adverbs

John dances gracefully Henry drives carefully Steve works quietly

Sam dances more gracefully than John (does) Mary drives more carefully than Henry (does) Jess works more quietly than Steve (does)

Comparative

Superlative

The superlative degree compares three or more verbs, adjectives or adverbs

Of the three dancers, Mark dances the most gracefully of all Of the lady drivers, Janet drives the most carefully of them all John works the most quietly of all the students

Here are the rules for forming the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs:

Rule

Examples

For ly adverbs (adverbs formed from adjectives by adding ly to the end), add more for the comparative and most for the superlative

quickly more quickly most quickly slowly more slowly most slowly fluently more fluently most fluently

For adverbs which retain the same form as the adjective form, add er for the comparative and est for the superlative Notice that even though early ends in ly, it is not a common adverb because it was not created from an adjective

fast faster fastest hard harder hardest early earlier earliest

badly worse worst far farther /further farthest /furthest much / a lot more most little less least

There are also some adverbs that take on irregular forms when compared

Cindy runs as fast as Liz Team A plays as well as Team B Meg works as hard as Fred

When making a comparison of two things that are equal, we use the structure as + adverb + as to say that the two things we are comparing are the same

LINGUAPUNCTURE

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