Adverbs: Comparative & Superlative

Rule

In general, comparative and superlative forms of adverbs are the same as for adjectives:

• add -er or -est to short adverbs:

Adverb	Comparative	Superlative
hard late fast	harder later faster	the hardestthe latest the fastest

Examples

• Jim works harder than his brother.
• Everyone in the race ran fast, but John ran the fastest of all.

Rule

With adverbs ending in -ly, use more for the comparative and most for the superlative:

Adverb	Comparative	Superlative
quietly slowly seriously	more quietlymore slowlymore seriously	most quietlymost slowlymost seriously

Examples

• The teacher spoke more slowly to help us to understand.
• Could you sing more quietly please?

Rule

Some adverbs have irregular comparative forms:

Adverb	Comparative	Superlative
badly far little well	worse farther/further less better	worst farthest/furthest least best

Examples

• The little boy ran further than his friends.
• You're driving worse today than yesterday !

BE CAREFUL! Sometimes 'most' can mean 'very':

• We were most grateful for your help
• I am most impressed by this application.

 Adverbs of Degree

ADVERBS OF DEGREE

Usage

Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity or degree of an action, an adjective or another adverb.

Common adverbs of degree:

Almost, nearly, quite, just, too, enough, hardly, scarcely, completely, very, extremely.

Adverbs of degree are usually placed:

1. before the adjective or adverb they are modifying:
   e.g. The water was extremely cold.
2. before the main verb:
   e.g. He was just leaving. She has almost finished.

Examples

• She doesn't quite know what she'll do after university.
• They are completely exhausted from the trip.
• I am too tired to go out tonight.
• He hardly noticed what she was saying.

Enough, very, too

Enough as an adverb meaning 'to the necessary degree' goes after adjectives and adverbs.

Examples

• Is your coffee hot enough? (adjective)
• He didn't work hard enough. (adverb)

It also goes before nouns, and means 'as much as is necessary'. In this case it is not an adverb, but a 'determiner'.

Examples

• We have enough bread.
• They don't have enough food.

Too as an adverb meaning 'more than is necessary or useful' goes before adjectives and adverbs, e.g.

• This coffee is too hot. (adjective)
• He works too hard. (adverb)

Enough and too with adjectives can be followed by 'for someone/something'.

Examples

• The dress was big enough for me.
• She's not experienced enough for this job.
• The coffee was too hot for me.
• The dress was too small for her.

We can also use 'to + infinitive' after enough and too with adjectives/adverb.

Examples

• The coffee was too hot to drink.
• He didn't work hard enough to pass the exam.
• She's not old enough to get married.
• You're too young to have grandchildren!

Very goes before an adverb or adjective to make it stronger.

Examples

• The girl was very beautiful. (adjective)
• He worked very quickly. (adverb)

If we want to make a negative form of an adjective or adverb, we can use a word of opposite meaning, or not very.

Examples

• The girl was ugly OR The girl was not very beautiful
• He worked slowly OR He didn't work very quickly.

BE CAREFUL! There is a big difference between too and very.

• Very expresses a fact:
  He speaks very quickly.
• Too suggests there is a problem:
  He speaks too quickly (for me to understand).

Other adverbs like very

These common adverbs are used like very and not very, and are listed in order of strength, from positive to negative:

extremely, especially, particularly, pretty, rather, quite, fairly, rather, not especially, not particularly.

Note: rather can be positive or negative, depending on the adjective or adverb that follows:

Positive: The teacher was rather nice.
Negative: The film was rather disappointing.

Note on inversion with negative adverbs

Normally the subject goes before the verb:

SUBJECT	VERB
I  She	left goes

However, some negative adverbs can cause an inversion - the order is reversed and the verb goes before the subject

Examples

• I have never seen such courage.  Never have I seen such courage.
• She rarely left the house.  Rarely did she leave the house.

Negative inversion is used in writing, not in speaking.

Other adverbs and adverbial expressions that can be used like this:

seldom, scarcely, hardly, not only .....
but also, no sooner .....than, not until, under no circumstances.

KINDS OF ADVERBS

ADVERBS OF PLACE

Rule

Adverbs of place tell us where something happens.
They are usually placed after the main verb or after the object:

Examples

after the main verb:

• I looked everywhere
• John looked away, up, down, around...
• I'm going home, out, back
• Come in

  after the object:

• They built a house nearby
• She took the child outside

Common Adverbs of Place

'Here' and 'there'

With verbs of movement, here means towards or with the speaker:

• Come here (= towards me)
• It's in here (= come with me to see it)

There means away from, or not with the speaker:

• Put it there (= away from me)
• It's in there (= go by yourself to see it)

Here and there are combined with prepositions to make many common adverbial phrases:

down here, down there;over here, over there;under here, under there;up here, up there

Here and there are placed at the beginning of the sentence in exclamations or when emphasis is needed.

They are followed by the verb if the subject is a noun:

• Here comes the bus. (followed by the verb)

Or by a pronoun if this is the subject (it, she, he etc.):

• Here it is! (followed by the pronoun)
• There she goes! (followed by the pronoun)

NOTE: most common adverbs of place also function as prepositions.

Examples

about, across, along, around, behind, by, down, in, off, on, over, round, through, under, up.

Go to Prepositions or Phrasal Verbs

Other adverbs of place: ending in '-wards', expressing movement in a particular direction:

backwards forwards downwards upwards inwards outwards

northwards southwards eastwards westwards homewards onwards

Examples

• Cats don't usually walk backwards.
• The ship sailed westwards.

BE CAREFUL! 'Towards' is a preposition, not an adverb, so it is always followed by a noun or a pronoun:

• He walked towards the car.
• She ran towards me.

expressing both movement and location:

ahead, abroad, overseas, uphill, downhill, sideways, indoors, outdoors

Examples

• The child went indoors.
• He lived and worked abroad.

KINDS OF ADVERBS

ADVERBS OF MANNER

Rule

Adverbs of manner tell us how something happens. They are usually placed after the main verb or after the object.

Examples

• He swims well, (after the main verb)
• He ran... rapidly, slowly, quickly..
• She spoke... softly, loudly, aggressively..
• James coughed loudly to attract her attention.
• He plays the flute beautifully. (after the object)
• He ate the chocolate cake greedily.

BE CAREFUL!

The adverb should not be put between the verb and the object:

Examples

• He ate greedily the chocolate cake [incorrect]
• He ate the chocolate cake greedily [correct]

Rule

If there is a preposition before the object, e.g. at, towards, we can place the adverb either before the preposition or after the object.

Examples

• The child ran happily towards his mother.
• The child ran towards his mother happily.

Rule

Sometimes an adverb of manner is placed before a verb + object to add emphasis:

Examples

• He gently woke the sleeping woman.

Some writers put an adverb of manner at the beginning of the sentence to catch our attention and make us curious:

Examples

• Slowly she picked up the knife.

Rule

However, adverbs should always come AFTER intransitive verbs (=verbs which have no object).

Examples

• The town grew quickly
• He waited patiently

Also, these common adverbs are almost always placed AFTER the verb:

• well
• badly
• hard
• fast

Rule

The position of the adverb is important when there is more than one verb in a sentence. If the adverb is placed after a clause, then it modifies the whole action described by the clause.

Notice the difference in meaning between the following pairs of sentences:

• She quickly agreed to re-type the letter (= her agreement was quick)
• She agreed to re-type the letter quickly (= the re-typing was quick)
• He quietly asked me to leave the house (= his request was quiet)
• He asked me to leave the house quietly (= the leaving was quiet)

ADVERBS - FUNCTION

Adverbs modify, or tell us more about other words, usually verbs:

Examples

• The bus moved slowly.
• The bears ate greedily.

Sometimes they tell us more about adjectives:

Examples

• You look absolutely fabulous!

They can also modify other adverbs:

Examples

• She played the violin extremely well.
• You're speaking too quietly.