Comparative and Superlative Adverbs for beginners

comparative

Adverbs are used to modify adjectives adverbs and verbs, but what if we want to make a comparison between things by using these adverbs? Read more.

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Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

Comparative and superlative adverbs are used to compare the degree or intensity of an action or state between two or more things. Comparative adverbs are used to compare two things and express a higher or lower degree of an action or state. A superlative adverb expresses the highest degree of a particular quality.

Comparative and Superlative Adverbs: Formation

Group #1

Adverbs that do not end in '-ly' form their comparative and superlative forms like adjectives, by adding '-er' to form the comparative and '-est' to form the superlative. For example:

	comparative	superlative
Fast	faster	fastest
Soon	sooner	soonest
Hard	harder	hardest
Late	later	latest

Kids grow up faster these days.

I'll see you later.

Group #2

For adverbs that end in '-ly', 'more' is added to make the comparative form, and 'most' is used to make the superlative form. For example:

	comparative	superlative
Slowly	more slowly	most slowly
Quietly	more quietly	most quietly
Carefully	more carefully	most carefully
Quickly	more quickly	most quickly

He finished the test more quickly than his friend.

She speaks Spanish the most fluently out of all the students in her class.

Tip!

Do not use 'more' and '-er' together. For example:

He drives ~~more~~ faster than his friend.

Group #3

Some adverbs have irregular comparative and superlative forms. For example:

	comparative	superlative
Badly	worse	worst
Well	better	best

I can speak Russian better than you can.

Help has been sent to countries that have been worst affected by the war.

Using 'Than' for Comparison

We often use 'than' with comparative adverbs.

Jennifer walks faster than Tina.

I drive more carefully than you.

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Comparative and Superlative Adverbs