Degrees of Comparison

Ihaven't seen him lately.

The time is drawing near for our departure.
I nearly missed my train.

He works hard.

He hardly ever works.

It is pretty early.

She was prettily dressed.

There is also a group of adverbs with which the form without
-ly is mainly found in set phrases where it often undergoes some
change of meaning.

e.g. They travelled cheaply.

He bought (sold, got) the car cheap.

She brushed the floor cleanly.

The bullet went clean (= right) through his shoulder.

He spoke loudly and clearly.

Stand clear of the door.

Keep clear of the painted wall.

He shut the door closely.
He followed close behind.
Keep close to me.

He loved his daughter dearly.
He sold (bought) it dear.
It cost him dear.
He paid dear(ly) for it.

He found his way easily.
Take it easy.
Go easy about it.

They never treated him fairly at school.
You must play (fight) fair.

They criticized my work freely.

People are admitted to the museum free.

I firmly believe that he can be made to see our point.
I shall stand firm.

They thought (spoke) highly of him.

The plane flew high.

He paid high for his mistake.

He spoke sharply to me.
But: Turn sharp to the right.

He will arrive shortly.

It happened shortly before the war.

He cut me short.

I saw him stop short and then walk back.

The car passed slowly.
Go slow about it.

The books were tightly packed in the crate.
Hold tight.

They differ widely in opinions.
He was wide awake.
His eyes were wide open.

In a few cases both forms can be used with little, if any, dif-
ference in meaning.

e.g. He talked loud/loudly.

He turned the idea down flat/flatly.
He drove the car slow/slowly.
He came back quick/quickly.

Note 1. Care should be taken to remember that after the link-verbs to feel, to
smell, to taste, etc. only adjectives are used as predicatives.

e.g. He felt happy.

She is feeling bad (well).
The flowers smelled sweet.
The medicine tastes bitter.

Note 2. After certain intransitive verbs we find both adjectives and adverbs,
e.g. The wind blew strong(ly).
The sun shone bright(ly).
They stood motionless(ly).
They sat weary /wearily on the porch.
They lay silent(ly) on the grass.

Note 3. There are a few adjectives and adverbs in English which have the same form
in -ly. They have been derived from nouns, e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, hourly, etc.

e.g. It was his daily duty to water the flowers.
Most newspapers appear daily.

§ 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.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29