Comparative adverbs
Level: beginner
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.
Level: intermediate
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 bit | slightly | rather |
a little | a little bit | just a little bit |
She began to speak a bit more quickly.
Level: beginner
Superlative adverbs
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.
Level: intermediate
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with superlatives:
easily | by far | much |
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.
Level: beginner
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 |
- Comparative adverbs 1
- Comparative adverbs 2
- Superlative adverbs 1
- Superlative adverbs 2
Hello ltspb008
There's so much variation with this that it's difficult to make general statements other than that adverbs that modify other adverbials tend to go before the form they modify.
One other is that adverbials of place tend to come before adverbials of time when both come after the verb (e.g. 'We went to the beach every day' is more natural than 'We went every day to the beach').
If you had a specific sentence or adverbial in mind, please let us know.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Moroccish,
Of the two options, will take place is the more likely choice, in my view, but both are grammatically possible.
The future perfect form is used when looking back from a time further in the future. Most often, this is done with a by-phrase:
It is possible to use a time phrase beginning with in, but the point of view should be from a time further in the future. Thus you could say this if you are imagining yourself looking back from, say, the autumn:
A phrase like in three months' time can suggest a concrete time, rather than a point before which something happens, so we would usually add an adverb to avoid ambiguity:
Other forms are possible, of course: is to take place, takes place etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello mtoker
I probably wouldn't use either form, to be honest, but if I had to choose one I'd say 'beautifully', which is an adverbial and refers to the way the actors were dressed. I'd also say 'beautifully dressed' instead of 'dressed beautifully'. But really I would probably avoid it altogether by saying something like 'The actors' costumes were beautiful'.
All the best
Kirk
The Learn English Team
Hi Kirk
Why would you avoid either form?
Non-native, ESL teacher here and curious about your usage perspective as a native speaker.
Thanks
Hello Suryabound9,
'The actors were dressed beautiful' is not grammatically correct.
'The actors were beautifully dressed' is grammatically correct and would be fine if it's about some actors who aren't playing roles; for example, if they've gone to the Oscars and the speaker is impressed by their clothes, this sentence would be fine. I'd probably use some expression (e.g. 'to be dressed to the nines'), but this sentence is perfectly fine.
Does that help?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team