Slow and slowly as adverb

[JunieNg]

Dear teacher,

I'm really confuse about using the comparison of adverb. Yesterday I got a worksheet to do, using coparison of adverb, and here is one of the question.

The lift in June's building works _________________ Tom's, but Hung's lift works ______________. (slow)

For the first blank, I wrote "more slowly than" and the second I wrote "the most slowly"...I know that it sounds really weird but I think using "slow" to be an abverd is also strange! Obviously I was wrong and the answer should be "slower than" and "the slowest"

My question is what is the difference between slow and slowly and how and when should I use which? Thank you very much!

Junie

[Umut HIZAR]

Originally Posted by JunieNg

Dear teacher,

I'm really confuse about using the comparison of adverb. Yesterday I got a worksheet to do, using coparison of adverb, and here is one of the question.

The lift in June's building works _________________ Tom's, but Hung's lift works ______________. (slow)

For the first blank, I wrote "more slowly than" and the second I wrote "the most slowly"...I know that it sounds really weird but I think using "slow" to be an abverd is also strange! Obviously I was wrong and the answer should be "slower than" and "the slowest"

My question is what is the difference between slow and slowly and how and when should I use which? Thank you very much!

Junie

The difference of the usages of slow and slowly is obviously same as the difference between the usages of an adverb and and an adjective; that is, slowly refers to a na object or a subject, whereas slowly refers to the action's property.
It is really as slow as Tom's lift
It really works as slowly as Tom's lift

I hpoe it is clear enough

[JunieNg]

Thanks a lot, so refer to what you've said, the answer for my question is "more slowly than" as it's refer to a action, the speed of the lift, isn't it? It's describing the action of the lift, am I right? ....still a little bit confused, but thanks anyway~^^

[Umut HIZAR]

There is a huge difference between the usages of adjectives in comparative degree and the adjective-adverb forms. IHere there are some replies for you choose which one do you like the most:

The lift in June's building works slower than Tom's, but Hung's lift works more slower. (slow)

The lift in June's building works as slowly as Tom's, but Hung's lift works slower. (slow)

You can use either comparative form or adverb form of "slow" but not adjective form because of the direct reference to the action.

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by JunieNg

Thanks a lot, so refer to what you've said, the answer for my question is "more slowly than" as it's refer to a action, the speed of the lift, isn't it? It's describing the action of the lift, am I right? ....still a little bit confused, but thanks anyway~^^

Formally, people use 'more slowly than', but it is very common to use 'slower than' even though it is an adverb. 'The most slowly' does sound a little strange- most people would use 'the slowest' there. When you have a word like 'fast', where the adjective and adverb are the same, I would advise against saying 'more fast'.

[Umut HIZAR]

Originally Posted by tdol

Formally, people use 'more slowly than', but it is very common to use 'slower than' even though it is an adverb. 'The most slowly' does sound a little strange- most people would use 'the slowest' there. When you have a word like 'fast', where the adjective and adverb are the same, I would advise against saying 'more fast'.

The subject matter was not directly mentioning that, for that reason I prefered to give the common usages.

Thanks anyway. :)

[Tdol]

Just adding some extra information for free.

[JunieNg]

Thanks to tdol and Umut HIZAR~ you guys do help me a lot~ and about the question, I've asked my teacher, and similar to what you all think, both are correct, just in case of spoken or Formal English, say~

I clean my home regularly.

I clean my home more regularly than she does. / I cleam my home more regular than she does.

Just 'cause the first one is for writing and most likely, in spoken English, especially for the American, skipping the "ly" for some of the adverbs when using comparison is okay ~

Really thanks a lot~

[Tdol]

'More regular' is not used much in BrE, but you do hear it used by American speakers.