adverb comparative phrase ‘more frequently than’ – English Grammar Profiler

‘more rapidly‘ is an example of an adverb phrase.  In this example, ‘rapidly‘ is the head of the phrase.

B2 point 55 in the English Grammar Profile under the category of adverbs is defined:

phrases that modify with an adverb and comparative structure.

What is particularly noticeable about this structure is that it attracts higher level vocabulary (as noted in EVP):

B1: accurately, frequently, heavily, seriously

B2: closely, deeply, effectively, efficiently, rapidly, readily, strongly

These adverbs would make a good set of vocabulary to pre-teach or check before going into this grammar structure.

The 20 most common ‘_RGR _RR than‘ in the iWeb corpus are:

1 MORE OFTEN THAN 75765

(this fixed phrase usually is connected in meaning to ‘most of the time’)

1 NOT (XX ) 53458

2 FAR (RG ) 1633 3 HAPPENS (VVZ ) 1527 4 USUAL (JJ ) 645

5 OCCURS (VVZ ) 221

2 MORE SO THAN 32118 3 MORE QUICKLY THAN 13506

4 MORE FREQUENTLY THAN 8520

5 MORE EASILY THAN 6437
6 MORE SLOWLY THAN 5440

1 MUCH (RR ) 533 2 FAR (RG ) 272 3 EVER (RR ) 254 4 NORMAL (JJ ) 141

8 MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN 4693 9 MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN 4085

11 LESS FREQUENTLY THAN 2272

2 ONCE (RR ) 193 3 FAR (RG ) 144 4 ANNUALLY (RR ) 79

12 MORE CLEARLY THAN 1964 13 MORE READILY THAN 1850 14 LESS SO THAN 1754 15 MORE SERIOUSLY THAN 1744 16 MORE STRONGLY THAN 1610 17 MORE CLOSELY THAN 1603 18 MORE ACCURATELY THAN 1574 19 MORE HEAVILY THAN 1090