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Complete the secret spy agency's performance review. Select ALL the statements that correctly use comparative or superlative adverbs.

The correct answers are Agent 007 sneaks around more quietly than Agent 008. and Out of everyone in the agency, Agent 009 types passwords the most carefully.

Adverbs ending in "-ly" (like quietly and carefully) form their comparatives with "more" and their superlatives with "most".

"Fast" does not take an "-ly" ending; it remains "faster". "Fluently" is a long adverb, so it should be "more fluently", not "fluenter".

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Adverb

  • She sings beautifully — ❌ She sings beautiful
  • He drives carefully — ❌ He drives careful
  • They arrived late — ✅ a late train (same form, both roles)
  • She works hard — ❌ She works hardly (different meaning!)

The -ly words are adverbs — they modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, telling you how, when, where, or to what degree.

Pattern: most adjectives become adverbs by adding -ly, but watch the exceptions — fast, hard, late, well — that keep the same shape or change meaning entirely.

Comparative and superlative

  • She is taller than me. — ❌ She is more taller than me. (double comparative)
  • This is the most interesting book. — ❌ This is the interestingest book.
  • He did better than expected. — ❌ He did more good than expected. (irregular)
  • That's the worst idea ever. — ❌ That's the baddest idea ever.

Comparatives compare two things (-er or more); superlatives pick the extreme of three+ (-est or most). Short adjectives use -er/-est; longer ones use more/most. Never combine both.

Rule: one or two syllables → -er/-est (with exceptions). Three+ syllables → more/most. Irregulars (good/better/best, bad/worse/worst) must be memorised.

A2 | Elementary | Pre-intermediate

  • I went to the cinema yesterday. — past simple
  • I have visited Paris twice. — present perfect (life experience)
  • If it rains, I'll take an umbrella. — first conditional
  • You should see a doctor. — modal for advice

These patterns are A2 — the second CEFR level. At A2 you move past survival phrases into real grammar: past tenses, the present perfect, basic conditionals, and modals for advice/obligation.

Marker: if you can describe yesterday and give simple advice, but struggle with abstractions or nuance, you're at A2.

Medium

  • If I were you, I would apologise. — one rule (second conditional), but distractors like was tempt you
  • Answers require active thought, not instant pattern recognition
  • Vocabulary and context are realistic, not artificially simplified
  • Usually tests one rule, but the wrong answers are plausible

Medium marks middle-difficulty challenges: A2B1, one rule tested, but with realistic distractors that require genuine understanding.

Use "Medium" when Easy feels too obvious but Hard feels overwhelming. This is where most productive learning happens — the sweet spot of difficulty.