Like adjectives, adverbs in English have three degrees:
- positive adverbs (e.g., softly), used to qualify the modified word without comparing it to anything else;
- comparative adverbs (e.g., more softly), used to compare two qualities;
- and superlative adverbs (e.g., most softly), used to indicate that one modified word has a quality to a greater or lesser degree than two or more others.
Rules for forming comparative and superlative adverbs
(1) Adverbs ending in -ly take the forms of comparative and superlative adjectives—e.g., I arrived early. He arrived earlier than me. She arrived earliest of all of us.
(2) Comparative adverbs of two or more syllables use more or less—e.g., I finished quickly. He finished more quickly. She finished most quickly of all of us.
(3) Writers occasionally modify -ly adverbs by changing the -ly to -lier or -liest (e.g., softlier, softliest), but these forms are usually considered nonstandard.
Irregular comparative and superlative adverbs
There are a few adverbs that don’t play by the rules. These are the most common ones:
badly – worse – worst
far – further/farther – furthest/farthest
little – less – least
much – more – most
well – better – best
