G3: Comparative Adverbs

by Tom Rohrbach

Multiple Choice Quiz

Comparative adverbs go with the verb in the sentence, and they compare how two people or things do something.

We have THREE kinds of comparative adverbs - 1-syllable regular, 2-or-more syllable regular, and irregular.

Some irregular comparative adverbs include: good (adjective) → better (adverb), bad → worse, far → farther

For regular 1-syllable adverbs, we just add "..er" to the adjective - like "faster".

For longer words, we add "..ly" (sometimes the spelling changes, like "easy" → "easily").

To compare, we use "more ... than" or "not as ... as". To show equality, we use "as ... as".

When we use "as ... as" or "not as ... as", we always use the basic adverb - like "as quickly as" or "not as well as".

Confusing?! Give it a try - it gets easier (that's an adjective!).

Germany played __ (good) all the other soccer teams in the 2014 World Cup.
1. gooder than
2. better as
3. better than
These shoes fit __ (comfortable) the others I tried on a few minutes ago.
1. more comfortable than
2. more comfortably
3. more comfortably than
The Canadian jumped __ (far) the other long jumpers in the Olympics, so he won the gold medal.
1. farrer
2. farrer than
3. farther than
The girls in the class studied __ (hard) the boys, so the girls got better grades.
1. harder than
2. more hardly
3. more hardly than
I think my grandmother drives __ (slow) everyone else in Colorado!
1. more slowly than
2. slower than
3. as slowly as
Ali practices his typing __ (long) the other students in the computer class, so he is learning to type __ (fast).
1. longly than ... fastly than
2. more longly than ... more fastly than
3. longer than ... faster than
My father doesn’t clean the house __ (good) my mother does. I think he does it on purpose so she won’t ask him to help!
1. as good as
2. as well as
3. as gooder as
Barack Obama campaigned __ (success) Hillary Clinton, so he got the Democratic nomination for President and went on to win the election.
1. as successfully as
2. more successful than
3. more successfully than
The teacher asked her students to write __ (careful). She said they made too many mistakes on their last essay.
1. as carefully
2. more carefully
3. more carefully than
Maria already speaks English __ (clear) her older sister who has lived here for 3 years.
1. as clearly
2. as clearly as
3. as clearly than
That high school baseball pitcher already throws __ (fast) many Major League pitchers, and he’s only 16 years old.
1. faster as
2. as fast as
3. as faster as
I think people can learn English __ (easy) Chinese, which is very difficult to write and pronounce.
1. more easy than
2. more easy as
3. more easily than