Comparative adverbs show change or make comparisons.
Just like comparative adjectives, we often use “than” after the comparative. After “than”, we can use a noun, pronoun, or a clause.
- She eats more than me.
- She eats more than I do.
- She eats more than I remember.
And remember that is possible to leave out “than…” if both the speaker and listener know it.
- Mark workers harder (than Jon).
There are a few different ways to make comparative adverbs. In this lesson, we will cover everything about comparative adverbs.
1. We can simply use the words “more” or “less” after the verb.
- I eat more than my sister.
- She talks more than I do.
- We fight less than we used to.
- Mary studies more than Mark.
It is also common to use “more often” or “less often” after a verb when talking about frequency of an action.
- She goes to the gym more often than I do.
(=She goes to the gym more than I do) - I work overtime less often than I did last year.
(=I work overtime less than I did last year)
2. For adverbs that end in “-ly”, we use “verb + more/less + adverb”.
- She dances more beautifully than I do.
- The boy acts more impulsively than the girl.
- He works more quietly than she does.
3. For short adverbs that do not end in “-ly”, we use the same form as comparative adjectives.
- We stayed longer than I thought.
- She is working harder than last year.
- He can run faster than I can.
- She arrived later than me.
4. There are some irregular comparative adverbs.well > better badly > worseNote: “Better” and “worse” are the same for comparative adjectives of good and bad.
- She sings better than I do.
- He can write better than her.
- She dances worse than her sister.
- I played worse this game than I did last game.
5. Just like with comparative adjectives, there are words that we can add before the comparative to add detail. These are used a lot by native speakers.
Here is a list of the most common ones.much a lot far (= a lot)a bit a little slightly (=a little)
- Turtles move much more slowly than tigers.
- She acts a lot more selfishly than him.
- I ate far more than you.
- We stayed a bit longer than her.
- She worked a little later than usual.
- She talks slightly less than when she was young.
6. For negative sentences, make the verb negative. The comparative adverb doesn’t change.Affirmative NegativeShe talks more than me. She doesn’t talk more than me.He eats more slowly than her. He doesn’t eat more slowly than her.Mark cooks better than Kathy. Mark does not cook better than Kathy.Practice what you studied in this lesson a lot because this is something that you will need to use and you will hear very often when using English.
Learn to speak better English by simply doing this basic practice exercise. First, complete the sentences with your own answers, and then practice making your own sentences. Finally, try using this grammar in real life.
_______________ speaks English better than I do.
I study harder than _______________.
_______________ can dance better than me.
_______________ can cook better than my mom.
_______________ can run faster than a dog.
A dog can jump higher than a _______________.
I can learn _______________ more quickly than _______________.
_______________ can move more quickly than a car.
