Comparative

This lesson is on comparative adverbs comparative adverbs compare one action with another.

We have several different ways we can form the comparative adverb and sometimes we omit the thing that’s being compared.

If it’s clear for short adverbs with what only one or two syllables we add e r or r to the end of the word.

And please note the use of then when comparing adverbs and if the word ends in a Y we usually replace that y with an eye before adding E.R.

So Roy jumped high Roy jumped higher than me Peter arrived late Peter arrived later than Sue.

And please note here that late ends in an E.

So we just add an r to it.

We don’t have to add another E and an R John arrived early.

John arrived earlier than Bob.

And here the early ends in a Y replaced the Y with an eye and at ya for adverbs with three or more syllables.

We add more or less in front of the adverb so Jack drives carefully Jack drives more carefully than David carefully.

Would be unwieldy and sound a bit strange.

Well stars shine brightly at night.

Stars shine less brightly when it’s cloudy and as usual in English we have some irregularities Sarah plays tennis well Sarah plays tennis better than her brother.

So the comparative well is better Jim scored badly on the test Jim did worse than Paul badly as an adverb is worse as a comparative adverb Tony ran far today.

Today Tony ran farther or further than Peter and we can use both farther and further as the comparative of far.

If you want to distinguish between them you will usually use father for a distance and further four concepts is up to you Jamie.

A little in the evening Jenny a less than Fred comparative of Little is less and the comparatives as much and many is more.

and we do sometimes omit the thing that were being thus being compared.

If it’s clear what we’re talking about the teacher speaks more slowly for beginners.

Now the thing is being compared here is fairly clear and it’s the way the teacher speaks for non beginner students.

You need to work harder implied than you are now Jane began to speak more quickly implied than she was speaking before Bill drives more carefully now implied than he used to.

So in these cases we can see that when the comparative is clear we don’t need to state it.