Forming Comparative and Superlative Adverbs

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LY Adverbs.

With LY adverbs (adverbs formed from adjectives by adding -ly to the end) we form the comparative and superlative forms with more and most.

Adjective Adverb Comparative Adverb Superlative Adverb
quiet quietly more quietly most quietly
careful carefully more carefully most carefully
happy happily more happily most happily
  • Jeff works more quietly than Steve does.
  • Jeff works the most quietly of all the students.
  • Mary drives more carefully than John does.
  • Of the three drivers, Mary drives the most carefully.
  • Steve works more happily than he used to.
  • Mary sings the most happily of all the girls in the group.

Other Adverbs.

For adverbs which retain the same form as the adjective form, we add -er to form the comparative and -est to form the superlative.

Adjective Adverb Comparative Adverb Superlative Adverb
hard hard harder hardest
fast fast faster fastest
early early earlier earliest
  • Please work harder.
  • Steve works the hardest.
  • Mary runs faster than John does.
  • Mary runs the fastest of all the runners on the team.
  • Steve gets to work earlier than I do.
  • Steve gets to work the earliest of all.

Irregular Adverbs.

Adjective Adverb Comparative Adverb Superlative Adverb
good well better best
bad badly worse worst
far far farther/further farthest/furthest
  • John plays tennis better than Jack does.
  • On our tennis team, John plays tennis the best.
  • I did worse on the test than Bart did.
  • On that test, I did the worst in the class.
  • My paper airplane flew farther than yours did.
  • My paper airplane flew the farthest of all.

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