Degrees of Comparison

§ 5. Most adverbs are invariable. But certain adverbs of man- ner change for degrees of comparison. The degrees of comparison of adverbs are formed in the same way as those of adjectives.

Monosyllabic adverbs and the adverb early form the com- parative and the superlative degrees by adding the suffixes -er and -est.

e.g. hard — harder — hardest soon — sooner — soonest early — earlier — earliest

The degrees of comparison of all other adverbs are formed by placing more and most before them.

e.g. beautifully —- more beautifully — most beautifully cleverly — more cleverly — most cleverly

A few adverbs have irregular degrees of comparison.

e.g. well — better — best badly — worse — worst much — more — most little — less — least

Note that it is only the comparative degree of adverbs that is actually found in English.

e.g. He ran faster than the wind.

Little Martha danced even more beautifully than her sister.

In the combinations most successfully, most wisely and the like, most is an adverb of degree denoting 'very'. It is only the superlatives best, most, worst and least that are actually used.

e.g, John's sister Marian was very nice to me, and I liked her

best of them all. None of us played well, but Tom played worst that day.

Syntactic Functions of Adverbs

§ 6. Adverbs may modify single words, phrases and sentences. When they modify verbs, they can serve as adverbial modifiers of time, frequency, place, manner and degree.

e.g. He was then only fifteen years old. (time)

During my walks I occasionally met people I knew, (frequency)

I went back inside, (place)

I loved her passionately, (degree)

The father held the boy tightly in his arms, (manner)

When adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs, they serve as adverbial modifiers of degree (as intensifiers).

e.g. My English was too poor to allow me to make speeches. I led a very pleasant life there. She left the room so quickly. It's going to rain pretty soon.

Adverbs of degree can also modify certain kinds of prepositional phrases.

e.g. They lived nearly on the top of the hill. I'm almost through with my work. His remarks were not quite to the point.

There are a few adverbs in English which can function as at- tributes modifying nouns.

e.g. He was fully master of the situation. She was quite a child. Can you see the man over there? Nobody could explain the noise backstage.

Note. In some combinations the adverbs modifying a noun become adjectivized, e.g. the then Prime Minister, in the above examples, in after years and some others.

Some groups of adverbs, namely viewpoint, attitudinal and formulaic ones, modify whole sentences.

e.g. He felt sure that, politically, the proposal might have serious

consequences.

Luckily, I came just in time. Will you kindly step aside?

Conjunctive adverbs connect what is being said with what was said before, establishing between two or more statements relations of enumeration, equality, contrast, result, inference, replacement, concession, opposition, time and the like.

e.g. He felt ill, yet he didn't stay in.

Paul went away for three days. Meanwhile his family were to

do the packing.

He got wet in the rain and fell ill as a result. I know you are not a doctor. Nevertheless (still) you could

have bandaged his cut.

Place of Adverbs in the Sentence