Topic 5:
COMPARISON
OF ADJECTIVES
AND ADVERB
(REVIEW)

I. Comparative and Superlative
ADJ
Comparative adjectives
- Comparative adjectives compare one person or thing with another and enable us to
say whether a person or thing has more or less of a particular quality:
Josh is taller than his sister.
I'm more interested in music than sport.
Big cars that use a lot of petrol are less popular now than twenty years ago.
Superlative adjectives
- Superlative adjectives describe one person or thing as having more of a quality
than all other people or things in a group:
The 'Silver Arrow' will be the fastest train in the world when it is built.
The most frightening film I've ever seen was Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho'.
What is the least expensive way of travelling in Japan?

STRUCTURE

Comparative:
S1 + BE + ADJ-ER + THAN + S2
Superlative:
S1 + BE + THE + ADJ-EST + THAN
+ S2

COMPARATIVE: SHORT ADJECTIVES

STRUCTURE: LONG ADJECTIVES

STRUCTURE: LONG ADJECTIVES

II. ADVERBS IN COMPARISON AND
SUPERLATIVE

II. ADVERBS IN COMPARISON
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:
• Fast => Faster
• Hard => Harder
• Late => Later
• Low => Lower
• Wide => Wider
• Long => Longer

•Comparative:
•S1 + V + ADV-ER + THAN + S2

II. ADVERBS IN COMPARISON
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:
• Carefully => more carefully
• Happily => more happily
• Horribly => more horribly
• Quickly => more quickly
• Recently => recently

• Comparative:
• S1 + V + MORE + ADV + THAN + S2

II. ADVERBS IN COMPARISON AND
SUPERLATIVE
Irregular Adverbs
A
•
•
•
•
•
•

few adverbs have irregular form, for example:
Badly => worse
Early => earlier
Far => further/ farther
Little => less
Much => more
Well => better

Note:
A few adverbs have NO comparative
form, for example:
again, first
daily, yesterday
here, there
now, then
never, sometimes

II. ADVERBS IN SUPERLATIVE
ONE-syllable adverbs: add -est

With short adverbs that do not end in -ly superlative forms:
add  -est to form the superlative. If the adverb ends in e,
remove it before adding the ending:
• Hard => hardest
• Fast => Fastest
• Late => latest
Examples
• Jim works harder than his brother.
• Everyone in the race ran fast, but John ran
the fastest of all.

•Superlative:
•S1 + V + THE + ADV –EST + S2

II. ADVERBS IN SUPERLATIVE
TWO-syllable adverbs: Use THE MOST
With adverbs ending in -ly, you must use the most to form the
superlative:
• quietly => The most quietly
• Fast => Fastest
• Late
=> latest
Examples
• The teacher spoke more slowly to help us to
understand.
• Could you sing more quietly please?

•Superlative:
•S1 + V + THE MOST+ ADV + S2

II. ADVERBS IN SUPERLATIVE
Irregular verbs
•
•
•
•

badly => The worst
Far => The farthest/ furthest
Little => The least
Well => the best
Examples
The little boy ran farther than his friends.
You're driving worse today than yesterday !
He played the best of any player.

•Superlative:
•S1 + V + THE MOST+ ADV + S2

Task 1: Comparative Adverbs
1. If you don't study _______, you
will fail your exam.
 harder
 hardly
 more hard
2. After the accident he drives
_______ now.
 less carefully
 more carefully
 carefully than

3. She speaks _______ before.
 better
 better than
 more well than
4. Mary can run _______ Jane.
 faster
 faster than
 slower than
Answer:
1. harder
2. more carefully
3. better than
4. faster than

Task 2: Underline the correct answer.
1.
Jim boasted that he could run (faster/ fastlier) than anyone else in his class.
2.
Her presentation is (poorer/more poorly) prepared than I expected.
3.
Jim seems to care (littler/ less) about his health than he should.
4.
If you had tried (harder/ more hardly), you would have passed the test.
5.
Today the sun shines (brighter/ more brightly) than yesterday.
6.
Snow storm in my hometown is (more severe/ more severely) than
anywhere else in the country.
7.
I think you could reach a (higher/ more highly) position in the company if
you tried.
8.
If you behaved (cleverer/ more cleverly), they would look up to you.
9.
Although my computer is old-fashioned, it runs (smoother/ more
smoothly) than many of the modern ones.
10. Thanks to immense practice, Jim can speak English much (more fluent/
more fluently) than he used to.

Task 3. Complete the sentences with the suitable form of the adjectives or adverbs in
brackets.
1.
Tokyo is one of
cities in the world. (liveable)
2.
You should go by train, it would be much
. (cheap)
3.
Universal Studios is by far
place to visit in Singapore. (good)
4.
The price of electronic devices in Vietnam is not
that in Japan.
(reasonable)
5.
Today is
day I've had in a long time. (bad)
6.
Your team is much
today than last week. (lucky)
7.
Of the four participants, Bill is
experienced. (little)
8.
I didn't want to wake anybody up, so I came in
I could.
(quietly)
9.
I ran pretty far yesterday, but I ran even a lot
today. (far)
10.
Singapore is the second
destination in Asia. (popular)
Answer key:
1. the most liveable
2. cheaper
5. the worst 6. luckier 7. the least

3. the best
8. as quietly as

4. as reasonable as

GOODBYE