Some adverbs have degrees of comparison.

(a)If the adverb is a word of one syllable, the comparative degree 's formed by adding -er and the superlative by adding -est.

fast — faster — fastest hard — harder — hardest

(b)Adverbs ending in -ly form the comparative by means of more an d the superlative by means of most.

wisely — more

wisely — most wisely

beautifully — more

beautifully — most beautifully

(c) Some adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:

well — better — best

badly — worse — worst

much — more — most

little — less — least

 

§ 4. According to their meaning adverbs fall under several groups:

(1)adverbs of time (today, tomorrow, soon, etc.);

(2)adverbs of repetition or frequency (often, seldom, ever; never, sometimes, etc.);

(3)adverbs of place and direction (inside, outside, here, there, back­ward, upstairs, etc.);

(4)adverbs of cause and consequence (therefore, consequently, ac­cordingly, etc.);

(5)adverbs of manner (kindly, quickly, hard, etc.);

(5)adverbs of degree, measure and quantity (very, enough, half, too, nearly, almost, much, little, hardly, rather, exceedingly, quite, once, twice, firstly, secondly, etc.).

Three groups of adverbs stand aside: interrogative, relative and conjunctive adverbs.

Interrogative adverbs (where, when, why, how) are used in special questions.

Conjunctive and relative adverbs are used to introduce subordinate clauses.¹

Some adverbs are homonymous with nouns, adjectives, prepo­sitions, conjunctions², words of the category of state³ and modal words⁴.

See Chapter XVII, The Complex Sentence.

² See Chapter XII, The Preposition.

³ See Chapter VI, The Words of the Category of State.

⁴ See Chapter X, The Modal Words.