Irregular Adverbs — Well, Badly, Far
Practice the irregular comparative and superlative adverbs well→better→best, badly→worse→worst, and far→farther/further.
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I sing ___ than I used to.
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better
The comparative of the adverb 'well' is irregular — 'better'.
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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'.
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She lives ___ from school than I do.
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farther
The comparative of 'far' is irregular — 'farther' (or 'further').
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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'.
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She speaks Italian ___ than her sister.
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better
The comparative of the adverb 'well' is irregular — 'better'.
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I slept ___ last night than the night before — only three hours.
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worse
The comparative of 'badly' is irregular — 'worse'.
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We live ___ from town than we did before.
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further
The comparative of 'far' is irregular — 'further' (or 'farther').
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I eat ___ meat now than I did last year.
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less
'Little' becomes 'less' in the comparative. 'Fewer' is for countable nouns.
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Of all the violinists in the orchestra, she plays ___.
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the best
The superlative of the adverb 'well' is irregular — 'the best'.
Irregular Adverbs: Well, Badly, and Far
Three 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. Far becomes farther/further, then the farthest/furthest — identical to its behaviour as an adjective.
I did worse in the second test than in the first.
She lives farther from school than I do.
Of all the violinists, she plays the best.
Because 'well' and 'good' look unrelated at first glance to a learner, and because the comparative 'better' gives no visual clue that it belongs to 'well' rather than being a brand-new word, these forms typically need direct memorisation rather than rule-based deduction. Errors like 'weller', 'more well', and 'the most well' persist even at B2 level, well after regular comparative rules are secure — evidence that irregular forms follow a separate learning path from regular ones.
Common Mistakes
✗ I slept badder last night. → ✓ worse.
✗ Of all the violinists, she plays the most well. → ✓ the best.
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