Irregular Adverbs — Well and Badly
Practice the irregular comparative and superlative adverbs well→better→best and badly→worse→worst.
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I sing ___ than I used to.
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better
The comparative of the adverb 'well' is irregular — 'better', never 'more well'. 'Best' is the superlative.
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I did ___ in the second test than in the first.
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worse
The comparative of the adverb 'badly' is irregular — 'worse', not 'more badly'. 'Worst' is the superlative.
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Of all the students, he speaks French ___.
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the best
The superlative of the adverb 'well' is irregular — 'the best'. 'The better' compares only two people.
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She speaks Italian ___ than her sister.
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better
The comparative of the adverb 'well' is 'better' — 'more well' does not exist.
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I slept ___ last night than the night before — only three hours.
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worse
'Badly' is irregular: the comparative is 'worse'. 'The worst' is the superlative and wouldn't take 'than'.
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This printer works ___ than the old one.
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better
The comparative of the adverb 'well' is irregular — 'better', never 'more well'.
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The team played ___ in the second half than in the first.
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worse
The comparative of 'badly' is irregular — 'worse'. 'Worst' is the superlative.
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Of all the violinists in the orchestra, she plays ___.
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the best
A superlative adverb takes 'the' — 'the best'. 'The better' would compare only two players.
Irregular Adverbs: Well and Badly
Two high-frequency adverbs do not follow any spelling rule for their comparative and superlative — they simply borrow the irregular pattern of their related adjective. Well (the adverb of 'good') becomes better, then the best. Badly (the adverb of 'bad') becomes worse, then the worst.
I did worse in the second test than in the first.
She speaks Italian better than her sister.
Of all the violinists, she plays the best.
Because 'well' and 'good' look unrelated at first glance, and because 'better' gives no visual clue that it belongs to 'well' rather than being a brand-new word, these forms need direct memorisation rather than rule-based deduction. Errors like 'weller', 'more well' and 'the most well' persist well after the regular comparative rules are secure — a sign that irregular forms follow a separate learning path.
Common Mistakes
✗ I slept badder last night. → ✓ I slept worse last night.
✗ The team played more bad in the second half. → ✓ The team played worse in the second half.
✗ Of all the violinists, she plays the most well. → ✓ Of all the violinists, she plays the best.
Far — farther, further, the furthest — is practised in Superlatives and Irregular Comparison.
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