Adjectives and Adverbs: Forms for Comparison
A common error in using adjectives and adverbs arises from using the wrong form for comparison.
Incorrect Example: She is the poorest of the two women.
Correct Examples:
She is poor. (positive form)
She is the poorer of the two women. (comparative form)
She is the poorest of them all. (superlative form)
Some words have irregular comparative and superlative forms.
Examples:
bad/worse/worst
good/better/best
Incorrect Example: She is the best candidate of the two for the job.
Correct Example: She is the better candidate of the two for the job.
Many one-syllable adjectives and adverbs may be compared by adding –er or –est.
Examples:
sweet/sweeter/sweetest
nice/nicer/nicest
silly/sillier/silliest
big/bigger/biggest
Some one-syllable words, such as fun, are exceptions. You must use more or most with fun.
Example: Learning English grammar is more fun than I thought it would be.
Usually, with words of three or more syllables, don’t add –er or –est. Use more or most in front of the words. Never use both the –er or –est suffix and more or most.
Example: efficient/more efficient/most efficient
Incorrect Example: He is more efficienter at using the PowerPoint program than his boss is.
Correct Example: He is more efficient at using the PowerPoint program than his boss is.
When comparing with an –ly adverb, keep the –ly and add more or most.
Incorrect Example: She spoke quicker than he did.
Correct Examples: She spoke quickly.
She spoke more quickly than he did.
Incorrect Example: Talk quieter.
Correct Examples: Talk quietly.
Talk more quietly.
Quiz: Are these sentences correct or incorrect?
1. You are the funnest person I know.
2. I can run more faster than you can.
3. I can run more quickly than you can.
4. My brother is the youngest of the two of us.
5. She is the best of the two sisters at braiding hair.
Answers
1. Incorrect (most fun)
2. Incorrect (faster)
3. Correct
4. Incorrect (younger)
5. Incorrect (better)
Posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 3:45 am
21 Responses to “Adjectives and Adverbs: Forms for Comparison”
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hello Jane,
First of all let me thank you very much for your amazing grammar blog. I discovered it recently and it halps me a lot. I am currently in the process of improving my english grammar ( I am not a native speaker) and I can say your blog is a very useful tool for me. Searching through your archive i got the answer for most of my grammar dilemas.
God bless you for this blog
Thank you, Adi. I’m so glad you find this useful.
I don’t understand how you can say that “quick” is an adverb. If I say, “I went for a quick jog,” “quick” is an adjective describing “jog.”
It’s in the American Heritage Dictionary:
ADVERB: Inflected forms: quicker, quickest
Quickly; promptly.
And Merriam-Webster:
Function: adverb
: in a quick manner
http://m-w.com/dictionary/quick
So I don’t see what’s wrong with “She spoke quicker than he did.”
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, quick, quicker, and quickest are all adjectives. Note: “In speech, ‘quick’ is commonly used as an adverb in phrases such as ‘Come quick.’ In formal writing, however, ‘quickly’ is required.”
The Random House Dictionary states pretty much the same thing.
1. on J’s 4/5 comments:
“Merriam-Webster:
Function: adverb
: in a quick manner”
This is a mistatement of fuction in the example! “Quick” modifies the noun “manner”; that makes it an adjective. (Why don’t we use “adnoun” instead?)
2. citing common usage often means acceptance of a sub-group language, doesn’t it? For least pejoration, how about “casual spoken” vs. “formal” or is that enough separation?
May I say Jane that your website is amazing; just what I have been looking for. I have on question though: when do we use ‘quicker’ instead of ‘more quickly’ and vice versa? This has confused me a little and although you page was a big help, I still could not find an answer to this.
I’m looking forward to a reply.
Thank you very much, Jane.
Regards.
Thanks, Josh. Use “quicker” as an adjective. Example: She has a quicker wit than all her friends. BUT She thinks more quickly than all her friends.
I understand now. Thank you very much once again. Your prompt reply is much appreciated.
Warm regards.
Hi to you Jane,
thank you for your blog…
Which is correct? please
The quicker you walk the sooner you’ll arrive
OR
The more quickly you walk , the sooner you’ll arrive
If the second sentence is correct ,is it because ‘quickly’ is referring to the verb.
If so, is the following correct? ( here quicker is an adjective)
The quicker you are in this exercise, the more bonus you’ll receive
“more quickly”
“Quickly” answers how the person walks, so an adverb is necessary.
The next example you give is not grammatically correct, so I can’t give you an answer.
Hi Jane,
I came across your blog after I heard many uses of “fun” as an adjective. You wrote:
“Some one-syllable words, such as fun, are exceptions. You must use more or most with fun.
Example: Learning English grammar is more fun than I thought it would be.”
The reason we cannot say “funner” or “funnest” is because “fun” is most definitely a noun, not an adjective. The adjective that derives from fun is “funny”. However, “funny” has come to connote other things, so the word “enjoyable” encapsulates better the intentions of the speaker when he/she uses “fun” erroneously as an adjective.
So, the corrected form of your example (“You are the funnest person I know.”) is simply: “You are the funniest person I know.”.
However, the Oxford Dictionary concedes:
“The use of fun as an adjective meaning ‘enjoyable,’ as in we had a fun evening, is now established in informal use, although not accepted in standard English. The adjective now has comparative and superlative forms funner and funnest, formed as if fun were a standard adjective.”
Nonetheless, I do not think that your grammar website should promote non-accepted forms of grammar.
Regards,
Beni
Thank you for pointing out the fact that one of the examples is in the wrong section. In the example “Learning English grammar is more fun that I thought it would be,” the word “fun” is used as a noun, not an adjective. It will need to be removed from the “Adjectives and Adverbs” section. I do not agree with you that the superlative adjective form of “fun” would be “funniest.” “Fun” and “funny” are completely different words. (Even on a personal level I know people who are “fun” but are not necessarily funny!) Even the nonstandard use of “fun” as an adjective would be: fun, more fun, most fun. “Funny” would be funny, funnier, funniest.
Hi,
A client doesn’t like the strapline ‘a better understanding’; she says a comparative is meaningless without reference to what it is better THAN. I do understand the (rather narrow) grammatical point, but surely ordinary spoken English – especially ‘commercial’ English – is rich with such law-bending?
And what seems most important is clarity. If a company says ‘For a better holiday’ or ‘For a more comfortable journey’, the omission of ‘than your previous holiday / usual journey’ isn’t important, is it?
Yes, spoken English certainly does differ in formality from written English. Your client makes an interesting point. A sentence without the rest of the comparative explanation can still be grammatically correct. In the phrases you mentioned, a better understanding, a better holiday, and a more comfortable journey, the rest of the comparative is implied. In less than formal writing, the rest of the comparative is only needed where there could be confusion over what the first part of the sentence is being compared to.
hi, please can you sort out this mini grammar issue for me.
‘maria ______ in her group. i have 2 options, “works the quickest’ or works the most quickly’ which one is correct please and why do you think so. I think it is ‘works the quickest.’ Prove me wrong.
thanks for this excellent site. look forward to hearing from you soon.
regards.
Since you are wanting to compare Maria’s work to others in her group (which we assume consists of more than one other person), the sentence could be, “Maria works the quickest of anyone in her group” or “Of any in her group, Maria works the quickest.”
What about dangerous???????????
The comparative form would be more dangerous and the superlative form would be most dangerous.
The link is in the right-column of the blog as the RSS symbol near the bottom of the column and is http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/feed/