| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case
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| § 4. adverbs, comparison of |
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and sometimes entire clauses or sentences. Many adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding the suffix -ly:
| | We made a conservative estimate of the costs. |
| | We estimated the costs conservatively. |
| 1 |
The monosyllabic adjectives fast, hard, and long do not change to form adverbs:
| | He is a fast runner. He runs fast. |
| | She is a hard worker. She works hard. |
| | We waited for a long time. Have you been waiting long? |
| 2 |
Some adjectives, like close and high, have two adverbial forms: one that is unchanged and one that ends in -ly.
| | We are close friends. Stay close to me. Look closely at the first chapter. |
| | The platform is high. The bird flew high. The artist was highly praised. |
| 3 |
| It is best to check a dictionary to be confirm the forms used by a specific adverb. | 4 |
Similar rules to those for comparing adjectives apply to adverbs and are shown in the chart below:
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Number of Syllables
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Unchanged
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Comparative
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Superlative
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| 1 |
soon |
sooner |
soonest |
| 2 or more |
early |
earlier |
earliest |
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frequent |
more frequent |
most frequent |
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comfortably |
more comfortably |
most comfortably |
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| 5 |
English also has some adverbs with irregular comparative and superlative forms:
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Positive
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Comparative
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Superlative
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| badly |
worse |
worst |
| well |
better |
best |
| little |
less |
least |
| far |
farther, further |
farthest, furthest |
| much |
more |
most |
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| 6 |
| To compare adverbs to a lower degree, use less and least: We rehearsed less often than the other actors. We rehearsed least often of all the actors. | 7 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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