The word than indicates that we're making a comparison here. Hard is a monosyllabic regular adverb (one syllable), which means that we can't use the word more. Like adjectives, monosyllabic regular adverbs add the suffix –er in their comparative form, so we need to use harder here.
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.
B2 | Upper Intermediate
- ✅ If I had studied harder, I would have passed. — third conditional
- ✅ The report is being reviewed by the committee. — passive progressive
- ✅ Having finished the exam, she left. — participle clause
- ✅ He denied having taken the money. — complex verb pattern
These are B2 patterns — the CEFR upper-intermediate level. At B2 you handle mixed conditionals, all passive forms, participle clauses, and can argue a point clearly. This is the level most universities and employers require.
Marker: if you can write a structured essay and debate an abstract topic, you're B2.
Hard
- Had she not intervened, the situation would have escalated. — inverted conditional
- All distractors are grammatically plausible in other contexts
- Multiple rules interact (e.g., tense + aspect + modality)
- Context determines the answer — no single "rule" is enough
Hard marks upper-intermediate to advanced challenges: B2+, interacting rules, edge cases, plausible distractors, and contexts where pattern-matching fails.
Use "Hard" when Easy/Medium feel trivial and you want to test whether you actually understand a rule versus just recognising surface patterns.