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2.6.1: The Comparative and the Superlative of Adjectives and Adverbs of Manner

  • Page ID
    122037
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    The Comparative and the Superlative of

    Adjectives and Adverbs of Manner

    The comparative concerns itself with the differences between only TWO nouns (people, places, things, animals).  The comparative is used to describe differences between two only.  Adjectives describe how nouns are different; adverbs of manner describe how nouns do the action of the verb differently.

    Examples with Adjectives Comparing Nouns):

    I am older than my sister.
    My son Alex is bigger than my son André.
    Roger’s wife is taller than my wife.
    A dog is faster than a man.
    A house is more expensive than a car.
    Old men are more careful with money than young men.
    Seattle is busier than Burien.
    For me, history is more interesting than mathematics.

    Examples with Adverbs (Comparing Action Verbs Talking about Nouns):

    I walk faster than my wife.
    My wife cooks better than I do.
    Women keep a house cleaner than men do.
    Young men drive more rapidly than old men do.
    I understand English more clearly than anyone else in this room.
    Many people type more accurately than I do.
    Children learn a foreign language more easily than adults do.
    My family eats more nutritiously than other families do.

    Be careful with the words than and then

    **** Than means a comparison of two nouns or adverbs; **** then is a time word and it means something follows something else in time.

    My son eats faster than I do.  After he finishes eating, then he washes the dishes.

    My son eats more quickly than I do.  He leaves the dinner table, and then I leave it.

    My sons are stronger than I am.  If I can’t lift something, then they lift it for me.

    My younger son is better than I am on the Internet.  If I can’t find something on the Internet, then he finds it for me.


    This page titled 2.6.1: The Comparative and the Superlative of Adjectives and Adverbs of Manner is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Don Bissonnette.

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