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Degrees of an adverb

You can have both comparative and superlative forms of an adverb, just like you can for adjectives.

First you can have just a normal adverb in a sentence:

When you’ve got nothing to do, time passes slowly.

Then you can have a comparative form of the adverb:

When you’re doing chores, time passes more slowly.

Or even the superlative form of the adverb:

When you’re at work or school, time passes most slowly.

Notice how I’ve used ‘more’ and ‘most’ to form the comparative and superlative forms of the adverb. For some adverbs, you can just add ‘er’ and ‘est’ to the end to form these degrees; for example the adverb ‘hard’:

He hit the ball hard.

He hit the ball harder.

He hit the ball hardest.

But for other adverbs, such as ‘slowly’, you need to use ‘more’ and ‘most’ or ‘less’ and ‘least’ in front of the word to form the comparative and superlative forms.

I think he ran more slowly this time.