Back to: English Language Primary 4
Welcome to class!
In today’s class, we will be talking about the identification of comparative forms of adverbs. Enjoy the class!
Identification of comparative forms of adverbs
Comparative Adverbs
One of the jobs of an adverb is to modify a verb action, for example:
- Joe ran fast.
If we want to compare one verb action with another, we can use a comparative adverb, for example:
- Joe ran fast, but Mary came first because she ran faster.
We use comparative adverbs when talking about two actions (not three or more actions). Comparison is always between TWO things.
How do we make comparative adverbs?
There are three basic ways to make or “form” a comparative adverb:
One-syllable adverbs: add -er
If an adverb has only one syllable, we usually just add -er to make it comparative: fast → faster. Here are some examples:
| adverb | comparative adverb |
| fast | faster |
| hard | harder |
| high | higher |
| late | later |
| low | lower |
| wide | wider |
Note that most one-syllable adverbs have the same form as their equivalent adjectives. Don’t let this confuse you.
For example:
| positive | comparative | |
| adjective | a fast car | a faster car |
| adverb | he drives fast | he drives faster |
Two-syllable adverbs: use more
When an adverb has two or more syllables (like all -ly adverbs), we can make it comparative by adding more in front: quickly → more quickly.
Look at these examples:
| adverb | comparative adverb |
| carefully | more carefully |
| efficiently | more efficiently |
| horribly | more horribly |
| often | more often |
| quickly | more quickly |
| recently | more recently |
| slowly | more slowly |
| strangely | more strangely |
We can also use less in place of more to suggest a reduction in the action.
Look at these examples:
| sentence | example |
| She visits often. | once a week |
| Now she visits more often. ↑ | once a day |
| Now she visits less often. ↓ | once a month |
Irregular Adverbs:
A few adverbs have an irregular form, for example:
| adverb | comparative adverb |
| badly | worse |
| early | earlier |
| far | further/farther |
| little | less |
| much | more |
| well | better |
Comparative adverbs with informal forms
Note that a few adverbs have a formal (“correct”) form with -ly and an informal form without -ly. The same is then true of their comparative forms.
Although you may hear some native speakers using the informal form in speech, it is best avoided in formal situations and examinations.
The most common examples are:
| adverb | comparative adverb |
| cheap/cheaply | cheaper/more cheaply |
| loud/loudly | louder/more loudly |
| quick/quickly | quicker/more quickly |
| slow/slowly | slower/more slowly |
Note that a few adverbs have NO comparative form, for example:
- Again
- First
- Daily
- Yesterday
- Here
- There
- Now
- Then
- Never
- sometimes
Guided informal letter: a letter to your mother on a chosen topic
- Write a letter to your mother telling her when the school will be closed for the holidays.
Using questions tags – conversation involving negative to generate questions using tags
Negative question tag:
If the main sentence is positive, the question tag should be negative. The pattern followed by a negative question tag is:
auxiliary + n’t + subject
Examples of Negative question tag:
- You are free, aren’t you?
- George broke the glass, didn’t he?
In our next class, we will be talking about the Use of Comparative Forms of Adverbs in Sentences. We hope you enjoyed the class.
Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.