Adverb Degrees of Comparison in English

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Adverb - Degrees of Comparison

ADVERBS : Comparative and superlative forms

What are Adverbs degrees of comparison?

"Adverbs have three degrees of comparison - positive, comparative and superlative."

Like Adjectives, some Adverbs also have comparative and superlative forms.

» Comparative adverbs : express a higher / lower degree of how an action is performed. (usually in comparison to another person or thing.)

» Superlative adverbs : used to identify the highest / lowest degree of how an action is performed.

Uses of Adverb with Degrees of Comparison:

(a) Adverbs of one syllable form

Adverbs of one syllable form comparatives by adding –er and superlatives by adding –est. If the adverb ends in e, remove it before adding the ending.

• Positive – no change (big, strong, long, etc.)

• Comparative – words end in "er" (bigger, stronger, longer etc.)

• Superlative – words end in "est" (biggest, strongest, longest etc.)

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
big	bigger	biggest
strong	stronger	strongest
long	longer	longest
hard	harder	hardest
high	higher	highest
low	lower	lowest
deep	deeper	deepest
near	nearer	nearest
fast	faster	fastest
late	leter	latest
soon	sooner	soonest
early	earlier	earliest

Note: Early is a word of two syllables but it forms its degrees of comparative by using –i instead of –y and adding in comparative degree and –est in superlative degree.

Examples:

• This route is long. [Positive.]
• This route is longer than that route. [Comparative.]
• This is the longest route. [Superlative.]

More examples:

• They arrived late. [Positive.]
• He is working harder now. [Comparative.]
• Aarav easily runs the fastest. [Superlative.]

(b) Adverbs of two or more syllable form

With adverbs ending in -ly, Adverbs of two or more syllables from comparatives by using 'more' and superlative by using 'most' before the adverb.

• Positive – no change (brightly, promptly etc.)

• Comparative – use "more" (more brightly, more promptly etc.)

• Superlative – use "most" (most brightly, most promptly etc.)

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
angrily	more angrily	most angrily
brightly	more brightly	most brightly
foolishly	more foolishly	most foolishly
frequently	more frequently	most frequently
slowly	more slowly	most slowly
clearly	more clearly	most clearly
carefully	more carefully	most carefully
happily	more happily	most happily
wisely	more wisely	most wisely
quickly	more quickly	most quickly
quietly	more quietly	most quietly
beautifully	more beautifully	most beautifully
harshly	more harshly	most harshly
gladly	more gladly	most gladly
sweetly	more sweetly	most sweetly
sincerely	more sincerely	most sincerely
seriously	more seriously	most seriously
helpfully	more helpfully	most helpfully
faithfully	more faithfully	most faithfully
sorrowfully	more sorrowfully	most sorrowfully
perfectly	more perfectly	most perfectly
promptly	more promptly	most promptly

Examples:

• Raj came promptly. [Positive.]
• Rohan came more promptly than Raj. [Comparative.]
• Aarav came most promptly of all. [Superlative.]

More examples:

• Sima finished the homework quickly. [Positive.]
• He began to speak more quickly. [Comparative.]
• Pooja smiles the most sweetly. [Superlative.]

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
well, good	better	best
ill, badly	worse	worst
little	less	least
late	later	last
much	more	most
far	farther(further)	farthest(furthest)

Examples:

• My mom is a good cook. [Positive.]
• My mom is a better cook than your mom. [Comparative.]
• My mom is the best cook. [Superlative.]

More examples:

• Payal speaks English well. [Positive.]
• The Eagle can see better than you think. [Comparative.]
• His knees hurt worst. [Superlative.]

(d) Adverbs having negative meaning

For negative meaning of Adverb, 'less' is used before comparatives and 'least' before superlatives adverb.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
clearly	less clearly	least clearly
wisely	less wisely	least wisely
forcefully	less forcefully	least forcefully
painfully	less painfully	least painfully
hopefully	less hopefully	least hopefully
slowly	less slowly	least slowly