Modifying comparatives

Start with the comparative

A comparative is a form such as colder, better, more useful or less expensive. It compares one thing with another, or a situation now with an earlier situation. A modifier adds information about that comparison.

• The new handle is much easier to turn than the old one.
• The lift moves a little more slowly when it is full.

An adjective describes something: an easier job. An adverb can describe how something happens: work more slowly.

Keep the comparative form complete. More useful needs more; easier already has its comparative ending. Adding much does not change how you form the comparative.

• The new instructions are much more useful.
• This latch is much easier to open.

Use than if you name the other thing. You can leave the comparison understood when the context makes it clear: I feel a bit better means better than before. See Comparatives for forming comparatives and choosing the words after than.

A large difference

Use much, far, a lot or a great deal before the comparative to say the difference is large. They can go before an -er form, an irregular form such as better, or a more or less phrase.

• The side entrance is far less crowded than the main door.
• Delivering the boxes together is a lot cheaper than sending them separately.
• The water damage is a great deal worse than we first thought.

British Council also lists quite a lot, a good deal, a good bit and a fair bit with comparatives. These are phrases to recognise, not a scale with a fixed numerical value for each phrase.

• We finished quite a lot earlier than expected.

Swan labels a lot and a bit informal. Cambridge's comparison article calls a bit less formal than a little. Do not turn that into an unsupported rule that far is always more formal than much. Cambridge's blog labels very much and a good deal slightly more formal in this use.

So much can make the comparison stronger too. Very cannot directly replace much, but very much is possible.

• The screen is so much clearer after cleaning.
• The repaired chair feels very much firmer now.

A small difference

Use a little, a bit, a little bit or slightly for a small difference. Put the phrase before the whole comparative, including more or less.

• The round container is slightly wider than the square one.
• The afternoon appointment is a little less convenient for me.
• Could you read the number a bit more slowly?

You can add just to stress that the difference is small: just a little cheaper, just a bit longer. The size of a difference depends on the situation. Five euros may be a small difference between two computers, but a large difference between two bus fares.

Not much plus a comparative says the difference is not large. It does not say that there is no difference at all.

• The direct train is not much quicker. It saves four minutes.

Rather can also appear before a comparative. British Council lists it with small-difference words, while Cambridge's comparison article lists it among words that emphasise a comparison. Cambridge's Rather article describes rather more and rather less in formal writing. Read it in context, not as a guaranteed exact synonym of slightly.

• The second estimate is rather higher than I expected.

Bare quite is not your main modifier before a comparative: use quite a lot cheaper, not quite cheaper for that meaning. Keep this separate from not quite as cheap, which has an as... as pattern. Swan records the special expression quite better meaning recovered from illness; that does not make quite a general comparative modifier.

Even: a further or surprising difference

Even emphasises that a comparison goes further than something already mentioned or expected. It does not measure the size of the gap. A small difference can still be surprising.

• The first parcel was heavy, but the second was even heavier.
• I thought the old lock was awkward. The new one is even more awkward.

Much heavier says the difference is large. Even heavier presents the second weight as a further step. British Council includes even in its big-difference list; Cambridge's blog explains the surprising comparison. Do not assume that every even comparison describes a large measured gap.

All the plus a comparative is another emphatic pattern. It can connect the stronger description with a reason, using because or for.

• The refund was all the more welcome because the repair had cost so much.
• I felt all the better for a quiet afternoon.

This is not the same pattern as the more you practise, the easier it gets, which links two changes. See Comparatives for that pattern.

Any and no: asking about or limiting a difference

Any before a comparative asks about or denies a difference to any degree. Use it in questions and negatives, and in an if part. It does not itself mean a small difference.

• Is the replacement battery any better?
• The new seat isn't any more comfortable.
• If the queue gets any longer, we'll come back tomorrow.

No plus a comparative means not any more in that direction. No better means not better at all, rather than a little better. No more expensive says the price is not higher; it need not assert that the two prices are exactly equal.

• The larger room is no more expensive than the smaller one.
• After two attempts, the picture was no clearer.

Compare no better with not much better. The first denies an improvement; the second allows a small improvement. These words do not say that the things are identical in every respect.

Use any for a neutral question such as Is it any faster? Do not make a blanket rule that no can never occur in a question. A question can check a negative claim: Is it no better after the repair? The meaning and the kind of question matter.

Before a noun

You can put the comparative inside a noun phrase, a noun with the words that belong with it. Much and far can appear here too. With a or an, the article comes before the modifier.

• We need a much longer cable for this room.
• That is a far more practical design.

British Council also shows slightly and rather before a comparative in a noun phrase.

• We ordered a slightly larger tray.
• It was a rather more expensive repair than planned.

For a straightforward noun phrase, use a much bigger box or a slightly bigger box. Swan says a bit and a lot are not normally used to modify comparatives directly before nouns. That is guidance about this position, not a reason to mark every a lot bigger noun phrase in speech impossible. You can avoid the issue by saying The box is a lot bigger.

The a in a lot is part of the modifier. It does not replace the article belonging to a singular noun. Compare The room is a lot bigger with We booked a much bigger room.

Exact differences and quantity comparisons

A number with a unit can tell you the difference instead of using a vague word such as much. Put the amount before the comparative.

• My cousin is four years younger than me.
• The second bus leaves twenty minutes later than the first one.

Four years describes the age gap. It is not for four years younger: for four years would normally describe how long something lasts, not this gap.

With more followed directly by a noun, choose much or many from what you are counting. Use much more with an uncountable amount and many more with a plural count noun. Far more and a lot more can work with both.

• We'll need much more time to check every room.
• There were many more applications this year.
• The longer route has far more steps.

This is different from much more useful tools. There, much changes the comparative adjective more useful, not the number of tools. You are saying the tools are more useful, not that there are more tools.

• These are much more useful tools than the broken ones we had before.

See Much, many and a lot of: few, a few, little and a little for quantity and Comparatives for less and fewer. Keep adjective degree and noun quantity separate when you choose much or many.

Other ways to compare

An as... as comparison uses the ordinary adjective or adverb, not the comparative form. You therefore choose a different pattern to modify it.

• The copy is not quite as sharp as the original.
• The temporary sign is nowhere near as clear as the permanent one.

Different and similar are not comparative forms such as bigger. British Council teaches very different from and really similar to. Very different is therefore possible even though very bigger is not the comparative pattern.

Superlatives use forms such as biggest or most useful to pick out an extreme in a group. Use by far the biggest or easily the most useful to emphasise a superlative. Do not swap the and than or treat these as the same structure as much bigger than. See Superlatives for the full pattern.

What comes next

See Comparatives for comparative forms, repeated comparatives and the... the..., Superlatives for extreme comparisons, so and such for so much and degree, and Quite and rather, fairly and pretty for the other meanings of quite and rather.