Degrees of early comparison in English. Degrees of comparison of adjectives in English

An adverb is a part of speech that denotes a sign and most often answers the question "how?". For example: cold, dark, tasty, high, scary, etc.

In English, we use such words all the time in sentences. Therefore, it is necessary to understand this topic well.

Fortunately, this is not difficult to do. In this article we will analyze all the main points that relate to adverbs in English.

From the article you will learn:

• 5 groups of adverbs in English and their place in a sentence

Formation of adverbs in English

An adverb is a part of speech that denotes a sign of action. In simple terms, it is a word that describes an action (verb). Adverbs answer the following questions:

• How?For example: jumped (how?) high
• Where?For example: saw (where?) there
• When? For example: got up (when?) early
• In what degree? For example: ate (to what extent?) a little

How are adverbs formed in English?

Adverbs are formed in English very simply. If in Russian we need to add the ending -o to an adjective to make it an adverb:

beautiful - beautiful about
fast - fast about

Then in English, most adverbs are formed by adding an ending -ly.

lone lone ly
lonely - lonely

slow - slow ly
slow - slowly

However, there are some nuances:

1. If the word ends in -y, then we change -y to -i and also add the ending -ly. As a result, we get the ending -ily.

For example:

eas y-eas ily
easy - easy

happy y- happy ily
happy - happy

2. If the word ends with -le, then -le is simply replaced by -ly

For example:

simp le- simp ly
simple - simple

ab le-ab ly
skillful - skillfully

3. Words that are exceptions to the rules

Of course, there are exception words that are not formed according to the rules. Usually these are adverbs that answer the questions: “when?”, “Where?”, “How much?”.

For example:

late - late
little - a little
well - well
far - far
fast - quickly

Be careful, and if in doubt about a word, you can always check yourself by opening a dictionary.

5 groups of adverbs in English and their place in a sentence

Depending on the meaning of the adverb, they can be divided into 5 large groups. Let's look at each of them.

1. Adverbs of place - indicate the place of action

List of such adverbs:

Their place in the sentence: The usual place for such adverbs is at the end or at the beginning of a sentence.

2. Adverbs of time - indicate the time of the action

List of adverbs of time:

now - now
late - late
recently - recently
then - then, then
today - today
yesterday - yesterday
tomorrow - tomorrow
before - before
lately - lately, recently
yet - still, already
already - already
still - until now

Their place in the sentence: Usually such adverbs are placed at the beginning or at the end of the sentence. Some may also be placed before the main action.

Yesterday we went to the cinema.
Yesterday we went to the cinema.

She is sleeping now.
She is sleeping now.

3. Adverbs of frequency - indicate the frequency of the action

For example:

usually - usually
always - always
never - never
seldom - rarely
once - once
ever - ever
twice - twice
sometimes - sometimes

Their place in the sentence: Such adverbs are usually placed before the main action, but after the auxiliary verbs (are, is, am, has, have).

They sometimes drive a car.
They sometimes drive a car.

He is always joking.
He always jokes.

4. Adverbs of manner- indicate the features of the action

For example:

well - well
fast - quickly
slowly - slowly
quietly - quietly
simply - simply
wisely - wisely
badly - bad
carefully - carefully
easily - easily

Their place in the sentence: Such adverbs are placed before the main action, after the auxiliary verb or at the end of the sentence.

He slowly opened a door.
He slowly opened the door.

Children stroked a dog carefully.
The children petted the dog gently.

5. Adverbs of degree and measure- indicate to what extent the action was performed or how pronounced the sign is.

For example:

little - a little
very - very
too - too
much - a lot
just - only
so - very
hardly - hardly, a little
scarcely - barely
nearly - almost, about
almost - almost, almost
enough - enough

Their place in the sentence: Such adverbs can come before an action, another adverb, or an adjective, but after the auxiliary verb.

For example:

He drives a car too fast.
He drives too fast.

She is very pretty.
She is very sweet.

Now that we have got acquainted with all groups of adverbs, let's look at how their degrees of comparison are formed.

The degree of comparison of adverbs in English

Depending on what we are comparing, we can distinguish 2 degrees of comparison:

1. Comparative - we compare objects on a common basis.
For example: He jumps higher than his sister.

2. Excellent - we compare objects in order to identify an object with the most pronounced feature.
For example: He jumps the highest.

Let's look at these two cases in detail.

Comparative degree of adverbs in English

We need it to compare something or someone with each other. For example: He runs faster than me.

Depending on the adverb, 2 forms of the comparative degree are distinguished, which are formed in different ways.

1. Simple comparative degree

We add the ending - er to such adverbs:

adverb + ending -er

fast - faster
fast - faster

late - later
late - later

He works harder than you.
He works harder than you.

She got up later than children.
She woke up later than the children.

2. Complex form of the comparative degree- formed with adverbs that consist of three or more syllables. And adverbs formed with the ending -ly.

Before such adverbs we put the word more:

more + adverb

wisely - more wisely
wiser - more wisely / wiser

easily - more easily
easy - easier

You should be more carefully.
You must be more careful.

She speaks English more slowly than her brother.
She speaks English more slowly than her brother.

Superlatives of adverbs in English

We need it to show that the item has the best characteristics. For example: This box is the easiest to lift.

There are also 2 forms:

1. Simple superlative form- formed with adverbs that consist of one / two syllables.

We add the ending - est to such adverbs:

adverb + ending -est

Fast - fastest
fast - most quickly

late - latest
late - most late

Thanks for your soonest answer.
Thanks for your prompt reply.

2. Compound superlative form- formed with adverbs that consist of three or more syllables. And adverbs that are formed with the ending -ly.

Before such adverbs we put the word most:

most+ adverb

wisely - most wisely
wisely - most wisely

easily - most easily
easy - most easily

They tried to drive mostslowly.
They tried to drive as slowly as possible.

3. Exception words

There are words, the degree of comparison of which is not formed according to the rules:

well-better-best
good - better - the best

badly - worse - worst
bad - worse - worst

many/much - more - most
many - more - most

little - less - least
little - less - least

far - farther/further - farthest/furthest
far - further - farthest

He drives better than his friend.
He drives better than his friend.

So, we have considered all about adverbs. Now let's put this knowledge into practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English. Leave your answers in the comments below the article.

1. She always helps us.
2. He quickly fixed the car.
3. I will come later than you.
4. She cooks better than her friend.
5. She easily solves such problems.

Adverbs, as well as their corresponding adjectives in English, form degrees of comparison (the Degrees of Comparison). Consider a few examples in the following table:

Jack can run fast. Sam can run faster than Jack. And Peter can run the fastest in their class.	Jack can run fast. Sam can run faster Jack. And Peter can run the fastest.
My brother drives his car quite carefully. My father drives his car more carefully than my brother does. My mother drives her car the most carefully in our family.	My brother drives his car pretty carefully. My father drives his car neater than my brother. My mom drives her car neater than everyone in our family.
Ann plays tennis quite well. Ann's sister plays tennis better than she does. And Ann's brother plays tennis the best in their town.	Ann plays tennis pretty well. Sister Ann plays tennis it is better than she. And Ann's brother plays tennis the best in their family.

If you are not yet familiar with, we strongly recommend that you first familiarize yourself with that topic and only then proceed to this rule, since the algorithm for the formation of degrees of comparison for adverbs largely coincides with the rules for the formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives, but takes into account the specifics of adverbs, namely:

A. All adverbs formed from an adjective by adding a suffix -ly(except for adverbs and adjectives) earl y (early / early ) ), as well as adverbs often (often) and seldom (rare) form comparative and superlative in an analytical way, that is, by adding the words mo re for the Comparative Degree and the most for the Superlative Degree:

slowly / slowly The tortoise moves slowly. / The turtle moves slowly.	more slowly / slower The sloth moves even more slowly than the tortoise. / A sloth moves even slower than a turtle.	the most slowly But the snail moves the most slowly of all animals. / But the snail moves slower than all animals.
quietly / quietly I speak softly. / I speak softly.	more quietly My mother speaks more quietly than me. / My mother speaks more quietly than I do.	the most quietly And my little sister speaks the most quiet in our family. / And my younger sister speaks more quietly than everyone else in our family.
heavy / hard, hard It is raining heavily today. / It's raining heavily today.	more heavy / stronger, heavier It expected more heavily yesterday. / It rained harder yesterday.	the most heavily / the hardest, the hardest It rained the most heavily last week. / It rained the most last week.
nervously / nervously Jack behaved nervously during the flight. / Jack acted nervously during the flight.	more nervously / more nervously Jack's wife behaved even more nervously than he did. / Jack's wife was even more nervous than he was.	the most nervously But Jack's son behaved the most nervously during the flight. / But Jack's son was the most nervous of all during the flight.
often / often I often visit my granny. / I often visit my grandmother.	more often / more often My sister visits our granny more often than I do. / My sister visits her grandmother more often than I do.	the most often Our mother visits the granny the most often of our family. / Our mother visits her grandmother most often in our family.
seldom / rarely We seldom mow the lawn in front of our house. / We rarely mow the lawn in front of our house.	more seldom / less often Our neighbors mow the lawn even more slowly than we do. / Our neighbors mow their lawn even less frequently than we do.	the most seldom My grandparents mow the lawn in front of their house the most seldom. / My grandparents mow the lawn the least.

C. There are adverbs that coincide in their form with the corresponding adjectives. Among them, adverbs deserve special mention. fast (fast ), hard (hard, hard) , late (late) . Due to the fact that they consist of one pronounced syllable, their degrees of comparison are formed in a synthetic way, that is, by adding suffixes, in particular –er for the Comparative Degree and –est for the Superlative Degree:

fast / quickly The green car went fast.	faster / faster The orange car went faster than the green car did.	the fastest But the red car went the fastest and won the race.
hard / hard, hard I have to work hard. / I have to work hard.	harder / harder, harder Sam hast o work harder than me to earn enough money for his big family. / Sam has to work harder than me to earn enough money for his extended family.	the hardest / the hardest of all, the hardest of all Marc has to work the hardest in our factory. / Mark has to work harder than anyone in our factory.
late / late Tom arrived late at the party. / Tom arrived at the party late.	later / later Sue and Mary arrived even later than Tom did. / Sue and Mary arrived even later than Tom.	the latest / later than all But Andrew arrived at the party the latest of all the guests. / But Andrew arrived at the party later than all the guests.

Special mention should be made here of the adverb hardly, which only at first glance seems to be a direct derivative of an adverb from an adjective hard. In fact, it is used in the sense "barely, scarcely, scarcely" and because of this value has no degrees of comparison.

C. A number of adverbs form degrees of comparison, which you must try to remember, because they are obtained in a suppletive way, that is, by attracting additional words that outwardly differ from the original ones. These are, in particular, adverbs well (well) and badly (badly) corresponding to adjectives good (good) and bad (bad) and forming degrees of comparison, similar to the degrees of comparison of the corresponding adjectives:

well / well Peter plays tennis well. / Peter plays tennis well.	better / better John plays tennis better that Peter does. / John plays tennis better than Peter.	the best But Sarah plays tennis the best in our class. / But Sarah is the best tennis player in our class.
badly / badly My brother paints badly. / My brother draws badly.	worse / worse I paint worse than my brother does. / I draw worse than my brother.	the worst / worst of all But I think my friend Daniel paints the worst of all the people I know. / But I think my friend Daniel is the worst painter I know.

Separately, it is worth noting the adjective and adverb far (far) , which has two forms of degrees of comparison, interchangeable when it comes to distance:

However, only the form further there is a meaning "one more, further, additional" .

This group also includes quantitative pronouns that can also act as adverbs. much (a lot, much) and little (few):

much / a lot, much Jill likes oranges very much. / Jill loves oranges very much.

more / more, stronger Jill likes oranges more than apples. / Jill likes oranges more than apples.

the most / the most, the strongest

In English, adverbs, like adjectives, form degrees of comparison.

Degrees of comparison of English dialects only two: comparative and superlative.

Note: the positive degree is the initial form of the adverb. Example:

🔊 I play volleyball well. - I play volleyball well.

When is the comparative degree of an adverb used, and when is the superlative?

• The comparative degree is used when comparing objects and subjects:

🔊 Tom came home later than Jane. Tom came home later than Jane.

• The superlative degree marks the highest degree of quality of the action of a particular object in a group of similar ones:

🔊 My brother came to school the latest today. — My brother came to school today. later than all.

The degrees of comparison in English are predominantly adverbs of mode of action. Their formation follows the same principle as the degrees of comparison of English adjectives. You can find out more about the types of English adverbs.

In addition to the above, I note that they do not have degrees of comparison, for example, adverbs of place ( 🔊 inside, 🔊 everywhere), time ( 🔊 always, 🔊 usually), and some adverbs of manner ( 🔊 somehow, 🔊 optimally).

Ways of forming degrees of comparison of English adverbs

1. To monosyllabic adverbs, coinciding in form with adjectives, is added –er comparatively and –est in excellent. Consider examples:

🔊 hard- hard , 🔊 late- late , 🔊 fast- fast , 🔊 low- low, 🔊 high- high, 🔊 deep- deep, 🔊 long- for a long time , 🔊 near- close , 🔊 soon- soon , 🔊 straight- straight.

BUT! 🔊 early should also be added to this list.

Table number 1. Monosyllabic adverbs

Positive	Comparative	excellent
🔊 late	🔊 lat er	🔊 the lat est
🔊 hard	🔊 hard er	🔊 hard est
🔊 near	🔊 near er	🔊 near est
🔊 deep	🔊 deep er	🔊 the deep est
🔊 early	🔊 earl ier	🔊 earl iest

a) 🔊 I usually go to bed late.
Usually I late I go to bed.
b) 🔊 I will answer this question later.
I will answer this question later.
c) 🔊 Julia was embarrassed that she had come to the party the latest.
Julia was embarrassed that she came to the party later than all.

1. To polysyllabic adverbs and to adverbs formed with the help of a suffix –ly, added 🔊 more in comparative and 🔊 most in superlatives:

Table number 2. Adverbs with the suffix -ly.

Positive	Comparative	excellent
🔊 loudly	🔊 more loudly	🔊 the most loudly
🔊 sincerely	🔊 more Sincerely	🔊 the most Sincerely
🔊 luckily	🔊 less luckily	🔊 the least luckily
🔊 accurately	🔊 more accurately	🔊 the most accurately

Sentences using comparative degrees of adverbs with a suffix -ly.

1. There are adverbs that form a comparative degree with -er/more and superlatives with the -est / the most. These are adverbs 🔊 quickly- fast , 🔊 often- often , 🔊 slowly- slowly, etc.

Table number 3. Adverbs that form comparative degrees in two ways.

Positive	Comparative	excellent
🔊 often	🔊 often er 🔊 more often	🔊 the often est 🔊 the most often
🔊 slowly	🔊 slow er 🔊 more slowly	🔊 the slow est 🔊 the most slowly
🔊 quickly	🔊 quick er 🔊 more quickly	🔊 the quick est 🔊 the most quickly

A couple of examples with adverbs of this type.

a) 🔊 She goes to the disco often / more often than me.
She goes to discos more often, than me.
b) 🔊 He runs the quickest / the most quickly in his class.
He runs the fastest in your class.

1. Exception adverbs have special ways of forming degrees of comparison (see table below).

Adverbs and adjectives have a lot in common. As close relatives, they are similar in many ways, but there are also differences. The formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs in English is a vivid example of this.

What are the degrees of comparison?

The adverb and adjective are the closest "relatives". Both of them help diversify speech, make it more interesting, richer and richer. The only difference is that the first is an adverb, emotionally colors the verb (brightly, beautifully draw), and the second is an adjective, describes the noun and thus serves as the main source of its expressiveness (quiet, foggy morning).

They both love to compare. An adjective is a great helper when it is necessary to compare two objects (Comparative degree) or to indicate that some feature is manifested in one object to the greatest or least degree (Superlative degree). The adverb does not lag behind him. It also likes to compare or emphasize superiority, but with the only difference - it is interested in the nature of the action:

Tom runs faster than Jack does - Tom runs faster than Jack (Comparative degree)

During the meeting Ann spoke loudest - During the meeting, Anna spoke loudest (Superlative)

Monosyllabic adverbs

Comparative and superlative adverbs in English, which consist of one syllable, are formed using the suffixes -er and -est:

Late - later - latest (late - later - most late)

High - higher - highest (high - higher - above all)

Adverbs of two or more syllables ending in -ly

English adverbs that consist of two or more syllables and end with the suffix -ly form degrees of comparison by adding the words more/less (more/less) and most/least (most/least):

TOP 4 articleswho read along with this

Properly - more properly - most properly (correctly - more correctly - most correctly)

Constantly - more constantly - most constantly (constantly - more constantly - most constantly)

Among the huge list of polysyllabic adverbs, a number of words stand out, forming degrees of comparison in two ways: suffixed or using the words more / less (more / less) and most / least (most / least): early (earlier / more early), loudly (louder / more loudly), quickly (quicker/more quickly), slowly (slower/more slowly).

Exceptions

Adjectives and adverbs are similar in one more way - in the list of exceptions, which form degrees of comparison in their own unique way. They are presented in the following table “Degrees of comparison of adverbs in English”:

positive degree	comparative	Superlatives	Translation
			Good - better - best
			Bad - worse - worst of all
much4.4 . Total ratings received: 215.

Adverbs compare almost 1-type with adjectives. Only qualitative adverbs (that is, definable) have comparative and superlative degrees. So you can't compare sometimes, never, there, now, almost.

Degreesadverb comparisons

The degrees have regular and several other adverbs. Regular adverbs are formed from adjectives and end in – ly. They are compared by type 1.

Adjective adverbs (coincide with adjectives) are as follows: long,late,early,fast,soon,hard,near. They are compared in 2 ways.

Comparatives are often followed by clauses with than, for excellent - with that. With superlatives, indefinite nouns/subjectives, the not required.

	positive	comparative	excellent
correct adverbs		more/less+ adverb	most/least+ adverb
adjective adverbs		adverb+ er	adverb+ est
irregular adverbs			furthest

quickly - more quickly - most quickly

fast - faster - fastest

She drives more carefully than he does - Sheleadsmore carefulhim

He started to work even more hurriedly - Hestartedworkmorefaster

I think she works the hardest of us all – By-my, she isworksharderusall

He helps me less than he used to - Hehelpsto mesmaller,howbefore

This is the best burger that I've ever tastedbesta sandwich, whatItried

I think this one is (the) best - I think, this- the best

Comparativeturns

— (not)as/so + adverb +as

I can’t speak English as well as you can - To menotgivenEnglishSosamewell, asyou

It's not as terribly as you thought - This isnotSoterrible, asyouthought

Grandad doesn't get about so easily as he used to – GrandadrecoversnotSoeasily, asbefore

- comparative adverb + and + comparative adverb

It'shappeningmoreandmoreregularly - This happens with enviable constancy

Thescoregrewbiggerandbigger - The account grew bigger and bigger

Double comparative

Double comparisons with the denote parallel outcomes in a causal relationship.

the + comparative adverb, the + comparative adverb / adjective

Thehigheryouclimb,theharderyoufall - The higher you climb, the harder it hurts to fall

Themorewediscussit,thelessIunderstandit - The more we discuss it, the less I understand it

Superlative Comparisonadverbs

Instead of rarely used superlatives, comparative adverbs are often used + thanever,anyone,anything

You can do the job better than anyone can - Youcandoworkit is betterall

Adverb Enough

Enough stands before nouns/pronouns, but after adjectives/adverbs.

cold enough, loudly enough

We've had enough meat - Prettymeat

I've had enough of this - Cmeenough

It'safastenoughtrain - This is a fairly fast train

It'snotgoodenoughforme - It's not good enough for me

He was speaking slowly enough for us to him - Hesaidenoughslowly so that we can understand it

English Joke

The sister spoke admiringly to the collegian who was calling on her after field day, at which she had been present.

"And how did they applaud when you broke that record!"

Her little brother, who overheard, sniffed indignantly.

"Pa didn't applaud me for the one I broke," he complained. "He licked me."