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Hi again, I'm coming with some more questions Emotion: smile I've been doing some english conditional sentences ( type 2) exercises where I had to rewrite the sentences using an if construction. And I there were two sentences with the same mistake:

a) People drive very fast, That's why there are so many accidents. I've written:

If people drove SLOWER, there wouldn't be so many ...

B) English people speak very quickly. Perhaps that's why I can't understand them. I've written:

If English people spoke SLOWER , I might be able....

As I expect you understand, the problem is with the word "slower" I've been searching the internet and some people say that both phrases:slower, more slowly are acceptable, but the answers are with a phrase "more slowly". So pleae, could somebody explain why do we need more slowly?

And by the way, do we need commas after the if clause which is in front of the sentence? In one book I've found a rule that says we need to put the comma, but in the book with those exercises answers ( a) b) and others) are without commas. So how should I write?

Thank you Emotion: smile
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Zygisthe problem is with the word "slower"
For purists, slow is an adjective and slowly is an adverb. You can have a slow car (adjective), but you drive slowly (adverb). The related questions are different:

What kind of car? A slow car. (adjective)

How do you drive? Slowly. (adverb)

The book you are using takes the purist approach, so it insists on making the distinction between slow, slower, slowest and slowly, more slowly, most slowly. When using that book you will have to answer that way.

_______________

Most speakers of English are not grammatical purists, however, and we use slow as an adjective and as an adverb. In a different book you may find that drive slower and speak slower are accepted as correct.

CJ

Zygisdo we need commas after the if clause which is in front of the sentence?
Yes. Use a comma to separate an initial if-clause from the following clause. You will notice, however, that the comma is omitted by some writers if the if-clause is short.

CJ
Comments  
I say "I drive SLOWLY", not "I drive SLOW", so I believe you should say "If people drove MORE SLOWLY..."

As for the comma question, could you write an example?

Peace
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 CalifJim's reply was promoted to an answer.
Thank you both Emotion: smile
In my opinion, you might want to use "more slowly" in writing. In conversation, however, "slower" saves a lot of time and sounds less formal.
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