Table of Contents

Comparative and superlatives adverbs

Introduction

Image     I eat more healthily now than when I was young.

Image    He eats the most unhealthily of all his family.   
 

Definition and use

We use comparative adverbs to compare two activities/actions or to show change.

We can use comparative structures with adverbs of manner and some adverbs of time and frequency.


We use superlative adverbs to compare more than two activities or actions.


 

Construction

Comparative adverbs:  Adverbs ending in 'ly'  

Superiority

Inferiority

Equality

 

'more' + adverb + 'than'

 

She works more quietly than him.

 

 

1. 'less' + adverb + 'than'

 

He works less quietly than her.

 

 

2. 'not as' + adverb + 'as'

 

He doesn't work as quietly as her.

 

 

'as' + adverb + 'as'

 

She works as quietly as him.

 Note that

1.     The second form for inferiority is more common in conversation.

2.     It isn't always necessary to include 'than' and the second part of the sentence. For example:

It started to rain more heavily.

She's working less efficiently now.

  

Adverbs with the same form as the adjective 

Superiority

Inferiority

Equality

 

adverb + 'er' + 'than'

 

She works faster than him.

 

 

She works harder than him.

 

She arrived earlier than him.

 

 

'not as' + adverb + 'as'

 

She doesn't work as fast as he does.

 

She doesn't work as hard as him.

 

She didn't arrive as early as him.

 

'as' + adverb + 'as'

 

She works as fast as he does.

 

 

She works as hard as him.

 

 

She arrived as early as him.

 


 Irregular comparative adverbs

 

Superiority

Inferiority

Equality

 

adverb + 'than'

 

She speaks French better than he does.

 

He speaks French worse than she does.

 

He lives further from the station than her.

 

She eats less than he does.

 

 

'not as' + adverb + 'as'

 

He doesn't speak French as well as she does.

 

She doesn't speak French as badly as he does.

 

She doesn't live as far from the station as him.

 

She doesn't eat as much as he does.

 

 

'as' + adverb + 'as'

 

She speaks French as well as he does.

 

She speaks French as badly as he does.

 

She lives as far from the station as him.

 

She eats asmuch as he does.

 

 

Superlative adverbs

Superiority

Inferiority

 

Adverbs ending in 'ly'

 

'the most' + adverb

She works the most quietly.

 

 

'the least' + adverb

She works the least quietly.

 

 

 

Adverbs with the same form as the adjective

 

 

'the' + adverb + 'est'

She works the fastest.

She arrived the earliest.

 

 

See note 2. below

 

Irregular comparative adverbs

 

'the' + adverb

 

She speaks French the best.

She speaks French the worst.

He lives the furthest from the station.

 

 

See note 2. below

 


Note that

 

1.  It is generally more common to use comparative adverbs than superlative ones. For example, we are more likely to say: 

 

He behaved more professionally than the other delegates did.

than

He behaved the most professionally.

 

and

She works less quietly than the others do./She doesn't work as quietly as the others do.

than

She works the least quietly.


2.     With these adverbs, an alternative structure is preferred:

She works the least fast. Image

She doesn't work as fast as her colleagues.Image

 

She works more slowly than her colleagues .  Image

 

He speaks French the least

well. Image

 

He speaks French the least

badly. Image

He doesn't speak French as well as the others.Image

 

He doesn't speak French as badly as the others.Image

 

He lives the least far from the office. Image

He lives the nearest to the office. Image

 

He doesn't live as far from the office as the others.Image

 


Examples


Image

 

 

She's swimming more confidently now.

  Image

 

Unfortunately, some laptops work less efficiently than others do.  Of all the computers I've owned, this one works the least efficiently.

 

 Image

 

We don't go cycling as often as before.

 

 Image

 

This project isn't going as well as we hoped - everyone needs to start earlier each day and work harder.

  


Image

 

He doesn't drive as carefully as his wife.

 

  Image

He dresses as badly as he dances.  Of everyone in the class, he dances the worst!

 

 

 Image

I'm sorry. We can't have the meeting as soon as we want to.

 

 

 Image

My children's behaviour is getting worse, not better!

Image

Peter always deals with Katashi because

he speaks Japanese the most confidently.