Complete the frustrated musician's diary entry by choosing the correct word.
Even though I practiced for weeks, my pet parrot sings the national anthem _____ than I do.
The correct answer is better.
Here, we need an adverb to describe the verb sings. The adverb form of "good" is "well." Because we are comparing two things (the writer and the parrot) using "than," we must use the comparative form. The comparative form of the irregular adverb "well" is better.
Adverb
Adverb vs adjective: adjectives describe things; adverbs describe actions, qualities, or degrees. The mix-up usually happens after action verbs — she sings beautiful (wrong) vs she sings beautifully (right).
An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb: incredibly fast, she spoke softly, we go often.
Diagnostic: ask what word is this describing? If it's a verb (an action) → adverb. If it's a noun (a thing) → adjective. Exception: linking verbs (be, seem, taste) take adjectives, not adverbs.
Comparative and superlative
Comparative vs superlative: comparative compares two things (taller than); superlative picks the extreme from three or more (the tallest). If there are only two options, never use the superlative — the taller of the two, not the tallest of the two.
Comparatives use -er or more; superlatives use -est or most. Short adjectives take suffixes; longer ones take more/most. A small irregular set (good/better/best) follows no pattern.
Diagnostic: how many items are being compared? Two → comparative. Three+ → superlative. Also: never double up (more better is always wrong).
A2 | Elementary | Pre-intermediate
A2 vs B1: A2 handles routine transactions and simple past narration. B1 handles connected discourse, explaining reasons, and understanding main points in clear standard speech. If you can tell what happened but not why it matters, you're still A2.
A2 is the elementary level of the CEFR: past simple, present perfect, first conditional, basic modals, and routine communication about familiar topics.
Diagnostic: can you link ideas with because, although, so that and hold a conversation beyond scripted topics? No → A2. Yes → moving into B1.
Medium
Medium vs Easy: Easy has one obviously correct answer and clearly wrong distractors. Medium has one correct answer but plausible distractors — you need to actually know the rule, not just guess from sound.
The Medium tag filters for A2–B1 challenges with realistic difficulty: one rule per question, plausible alternatives, everyday contexts.
Diagnostic: if you're scoring 90%+ on Easy, move here. If you're below 60% on Medium, go back to Easy for that topic. Target 70–80% accuracy for maximum learning.