We can use comparative adverbs to show change or make comparisons:
I forget things more often nowadays.
She began to speak more quickly.
They are working harder now.
We often use than with comparative adverbs:
I forget things more often than I used to.
Girls usually work harder than boys.
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with comparatives:
|much||far||a lot||quite a lot|
|a great deal||a good deal||a good bit||a fair bit|
I forget things much more often nowadays.
We use these words and phrases as mitigators:
|a little||a little bit||just a little bit|
She began to speak a bit more quickly.
We can use superlative adverbs to make comparisons:
His ankles hurt badly, but his knees hurt worst.
It rains most often at the beginning of the year.
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with superlatives:
When we intensify a superlative adverb, we often put the in front of the adverb:
In our office, Jill works by far the hardest.
Of the three brothers, Brian easily runs the fastest.
How to form comparative and superlative adverbs
We make comparative and superlative adverbs using the same rules as for comparative and superlative adjectives. For example:
|One syllable: Jill works fast.||>||faster||>||fastest|
|One syllable ending in –e: They arrived late.||>||later||>||latest|
|Two or more syllables: Alan finished the test quickly.||>||more quickly||>||most quickly|
|well: She speaks English well.||>||better||>||best|
|badly: She speaks German badly.||>||worse||>||worst|
|far: He'll go far.||>||farther/further||>||farthest/furthest|