Long adverbs Adverbs with more than two-syllables adverbs ending in –ly form their comparative with more and their superlative with most before the adverb... It is the opposite of more …[r]
(1)Adverbs are words that can describe: verbs → Read the instructions carefully adjectives other adverbs whole sentences → I am terribly sorry about what happened There are different types of adverbs: Adverbs of manner How? → He speaks very quickly → Apparently, he has forgotten our appointment happily Adverbs of place Where? here after the main verb if there is no direct object He sings badly Adverbs of place answer the questions beginning with Where…? Where are the kids? They are outside Some adverbs of place are: here, there, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, away, outside, inside, downstairs, upstairs… Position They are usually placed at the end of the sentence They go: after the verb if there isn’t any object Pam went downstairs after verb+object or verb+preposition+object I saw them there We looked for the keys everywhere Position They are usually placed at the end of the sentence, although they can appear at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis I am leaving today Tomorrow they are getting married The adverbs just, still and already appear in the middle of the sentence, between the auxiliary and the verb They are still reading She has just finished her homework I have already seen that film The adverb yet appears at the end of the sentence It is used in interrogative and negative sentences They haven’t called us yet Adverbs of frequency answer the que beginning with How often…? How often you go to the theatre? I the theatre occasionally after the direct object She did her homework quietly Some adverbs of time are: today, tomorrow, yesterday, soon, now, then, recently, lately, just, still, already, yet… rarely These adverbs are placed: seldom Position Adverbs of time answer questions beginning with When…? When is she coming back? She is coming back tomorrow hardly ever We form these adverbs by adding –ly to the adjective For example: slowly, quietly, carefully, beautifully, sadly… Adverbs of time never Adverbs of manner answer questions beginning with How…? How does she speak? She speaks loudly sometimes These are the most common frequenc often They appear before the adjective or the adverb they modify He is a rather clever boy She dances quite well If they modify a verb, they go: before the main verb I slipped and nearly fell after auxiliary verbs, modal verbs and the verb to be He can hardly see without his glasses She didn’t really like the book always Position usually Some adverbs of degree are: hardly, nearly, almost, very, really, much, fairly, quite, rather, pretty, extremely, incredibly… frequently Adverbs of degree are used to show the degree to which somebody or something has a characteristic It is really cold this morning 100%75%50%25%0% Position These adverbs are placed: before the main verb I usually go out on Saturday nights I don’t often eat meat after the verb to be or auxiliary ver She is always late for school He has never seen that film (2) Sentence adverbs are adverbs that modify a whole sentence They are used to express how sure we are about what is said Apparently, he won’t be here on time Some sentence adverbs are: certainly, obviously, clearly, definitely, surely, probably, possibly… Position They can appear in any position in the sentence Actually, I didn’t buy anything She’ll probably be late She can dance well, obviously When they are in the middle of the sentence, they are placed before the main verb or after the auxiliary He definitely hates beer They will probably arrive late We form most of adverbs (especially adverbs of manner) by adding –ly to their corresponding adjectives wonderful – wonderfully kind – kindly slow – slowly nice – nicely BUT true – truly When there are more than one adverb or adverbial phrases in a sentence, then we use them in the following order: manner – place – time She worked hard at school (*) yesterday But when the main verb of the sentence is a verb of movement, for example: go, leave, arrive, come…, then we use the adverbs in the following order: place – manner – time He arrived here early this morning (*) Prepositional phrases can also be used as adverbs: I go to school by bus Some adverbs are not formed according to the rule, while some others have the same form as their adjective Adjective Adverb Adjective Adverb good well late late But there are some rules: fast fast early early Adjectives which end in consonant + y change the –y to –i and add –ly heavy – heavily easy – easily far far near near hard hard high high Adjectives which end in –ble or –le change the –e to –y probable – probably gentle – gently BUT whole – wholly Adjectives which end in –ic add –ally tragic- tragically basic – basically public – publicly Some adjectives end in –ly: deadly, elderly, friendly, lively, lonely, lovely, silly… The adverb of these adjectives is formed with “in a … way” He is very friendly He behaved in a friendly way BUT Some words ending in –ly are both adjectives and adverbs: hourly, daily, early, weekly, monthly, yearly… I bought a weekly magazine Adjectives which end in –ll ad –y We play chess twice weekly Some adjectives have two adverbs: one with the same form as the adjective and another in –ly But the meaning of these adverbs is different AdjectiveAdverbAdverb deepdeep (a long way down)deeply (greatly) easyeasy (slowly, gently)easily (without difficulty) freefree (without cost)freely (with freedom) hardhard (with a lot of effort)hardly (scarcely, barely) highhigh (a long way up)highly (very much) lastlast (after all the others)lastly (finally) latelate (not early)lately (recently) nearnear (close)nearly (almost) suresure (certainly)surely (undoubtedly) wrongwrong (not correctly)wrongly (unjustly) I always work hard and pass my exams, but my sister hardly studies and she always fails her exams (3) Short adverbs There are some adverbs which don’t follow the rules and have irregular comparative and superlative forms One-syllable adverbs and adverbs with the same form as adjectives form their comparative by adding –er and their superlative by adding –est to the positive form of the adverb fast - early - - wellbetterbest the fastest badlyworseworst earlier soon AdverbComparativeSuperlative faster littlelessleast the earliest - the soonest sooner muchmoremost farfarther / further farthest / furthest Long adverbs Adverbs with more than two-syllables (adverbs ending in –ly) form their comparative with more and their superlative with most before the adverb Remember! less + adverb + than, in the comparative degree, shows inferiority It is the opposite of more … than I see Brian less often than Daniel the least + adverb + of / in, in the superlative degree, shows inferiority It is the opposite of the most … of Diana works the least hard in the class Use than after the comparative and of or in after as + adverb + as shows similarity He runs as fast as his sister (does) the superlative degree Use the article the before the not as / so + adverb + as shows dissimilarity She doesn’t swim as / so fast as her brother (does) superlative degree Write the words in brackets in the correct place I have cereal for breakfast (usually) The children played in the afternoon (upstairs) _ Sandra is going to participate in the competition Andrew ate his sandwich (quickly) (definitely) _ The football match had started when we arrived at the I was glad to see Mary after so many years (really) stadium (already) We go to the cinema on Saturdays (hardly ever) My sister will go to Egypt in summer (probably) The two girls were talking when I arrived (happily) Peter and Sam meet every day (here) My mother felt tired this morning (extremely) It is impossible that Ann arrives on time (almost) I have an appointment with the doctor (tomorrow) The factory workers are on strike (still) My brother is complaining about everything (always) Karen opened her presents on her birthday (eagerly) (4) Write the words in the correct order and make sentences often / in the afternoon / go / for a walk / I in front of the TV / comfortably / Mrs Jones / / is sitting / now his dinner / Ben / hungrily / ate / at the restaurant all night / the baby / peacefully / in his cradle / the classroom / left / noisily / the students / / slept / two minutes ago always / carefully / her motorbike / rides / Susan played / yesterday / the children /in the garden / / happily very quickly / Janet / her homework /last night / did carefully / examined / the doctor / the patient very / the plane / late / at the airport / arrived my father / hard / always / in his office / works certainly / is / today / to the meeting / going / Paul Alex / every day / to school / by bus / goes my father / in the morning / early / usually / gets up I / go / tomorrow / probably / shopping / will Pam / wonderfully / at the concert / sang / last night Choose for each sentence the appropriate adjective, then complete the sentences with the adverbs of these adjectives David was very bad at tennis, but he plays now Please, drive The road is very wet I’m a bit worried, the child is playing very , I can’t hear him Let’s run .The bus is coming! (good – bad) (dangerous - careful) When Lisa got the phone call, she smiled Alison has got new glasses Now she can see things I saw Tim at the dentist’s He was sitting (noisy - quiet) (slow - fast) Thomas took an umbrella because it was raining Sam arrived at home late last night and his wife was waiting Eddie works as a chef, but he cooks Emily didn’t have breakfast so she ate her lunch (happy - sad) Daniel looks sad I think he did in the exam 12 11 10 (bad - clear) (good - bad) (slow - hungry) (terrible - good) (angry - happy) (quick - heavy) (nervous - happy) (5) Complete the blanks with the correct form of the adverbs POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE fast _ _ quietly _ _ _ _ the most slowly early _ _ _ worse _ cheaply _ _ _ _ the most beautifully correctly _ _ _ _ the best _ farther _ politely _ _ _ harder _ _ _ the most cleverly wisely _ _ _ more quickly _ Complete the blanks with the comparative or superlative of the adverbs in brackets Write sentences using as…as and as/so…as, as in the examples Susan is studying (hard) than she did last year Sophie studies / hard / Phil Sophie studies as hard as Phil Amanda eats (healthily) than his brother Maggie paints (well) in the class Alex walked (far) than Alexis in the excursion Mark drives / fast / Helen Mark doesn’t drive as /so fast as Helen Diana behaved (cheerfully) of all the people in the party Cheetahs can run (fast) of all animals Carol sings / beautifully / Kate She dressed (expensively) than she could afford Alan speaks Italian (fluently) than Jack Charlie played (badly) of all in the team The teacher treats Anne (well) than the other students My little sister goes to bed (early) in the family Your daughter danced (gracefully) of all in her class Helen drives (carelessly) than she used to My father sleeps (soundly) of all the people I Tony came / soon / he could Martin’s book is sold / well / Lucy’s The parents behaved / stupidly / their children know Planes can fly (high) than birds Tim plays football / badly / Peter She speaks (politely) of all my friends John stayed at the party / late / Sandra Melissa gets up / early / her mother (6) Choose the correct alternative for each sentence You should eat if you want to lose weight leastb) littlec) less Our team played of all in the Championship worseb)the worstc) badly My new motorbike doesn’t cost as as yours moreb) mostc) much The postman came than I had expected earlierb) earlyc) earliest Today the children are playing than yesterday more quietb) more quietlyc) quieter Colin speaks French less than I wellb) goodc) better It has been raining for weeks If it doesn’t stop soon, we will have a flood hardb) hardlyc) harder Could you please speak ? I can’t understand you more slowb)slowc) more slowly Alan missed the train because he arrived at the railway station lateb) laterc) lately The air-hostess spoke to us friendlyb) in a friendly wayc) in a friend way My dog barks than my neighbour’s dog more loudb) loudlyc) less loudly Although Henry studied he could, he failed the exam as hard asb) hardc) hardly John was so tired that he could keep his eyes open hardb) hardlyc) harder We had a map, so we found the hotel easilyb) easierc) easy My neighbour plays the music the of all in the neighbourhood more loudlyb)most loud c) most loudly (7) ANSWER KEY 2 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 well carefully quietly fast happily clearly nervously heavily angrily terribly hungrily badly 3 10 11 12 13 14 15 I usually have cereal for breakfast Sandra is definitely going to participate in the competition I was really glad to see Mary after so many years We hardly ever go to the cinema on Saturdays The two girls were talking happily when I arrived My mother felt extremely tired this morning I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow My brother is always complaining about everything The children played upstairs in the afternoon Andrew ate his sandwich quickly The football match had already started when we arrived at the stadium My sister will probably go to Egypt in summer Peter and Sam meet here every day It is almost impossible that Ann arrives on time The factory workers are still on strike Karen opened her presents eagerly on her birthday harder more healthily the best farther / further the most cheerfully the fastest more expensively more fluently the worst better the earliest the most gracefully more carelessly the most soundly higher 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pam sang wonderfully at the concert last night POSITIVE fast quietly slowly early badly cheaply beautifully correctly well far politely hard cleverly wisely quickly I often go for a walk in the afternoon Ben ate his dinner hungrily at the restaurant The students left the classroom noisily two minutes ago The children played happily in the garden yesterday The doctor examined the patient carefully My father always works hard in his office Alex goes to school by bus every day I will probably go shopping tomorrow Mrs Jones is sitting comfortably in front of the TV now The baby slept peacefully in his cradle all night Susan always rides her motorbike carefully Janet did her homework very quickly last night The plane arrived at the airport very late Paul is certainly going to the meeting today My father usually gets up early in the morning COMPARATIVE faster more quietly more slowly earlier worse more cheaply more beautifully more correctly better farther / further more politely harder more cleverly more wisely more quickly SUPERLATIVE the fastest the most quietly the most slowly the earliest the worst the most cheaply the most beautifully the most correctly the best the farthest / the furthest the most politely the hardest the most cleverly the most wisely the most quickly Carol sings as beautifully as Kate Tony came as soon as he could Martin’s book isn’t sold as / so well as Lucy’s The parents behaved as stupidly as their children Tim doesn’t play football as badly as Peter John didn’t stay at the party as late as Sandra Melissa gets up as early as her mother 16 the most politely c b c a b a a c a 10 b 11 c 12 a (8)