Fill in the blank using the comparative degree of the adverb:
He hit him _______ than before.
(a)Hardest
(b)Hard
(c)Harder
(d)More harder

Hint: Read the given sentence carefully.The given sentence conveys that “he” hit him with more force than he hit before. There is a comparison done here.

Complete answer: An adverb is a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.
*Superlative Adverb is used to compare three or more people, places or things and is used to state that the action performed is to the highest degree within a group or of its kind.
*Comparative Adverb, as the name suggests, is used to compare two people, places or things. If the adverb is a short word, adding the prefix -er will convert that adverb into a comparative.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct option :
(a)Hardest-It is the superlative degree of ‘hard’. It cannot be used in the given sentence as only comparative degree has to be used in the given sentence.
(b)Hard-It is an adverb which means ‘not soft to touch'. It cannot be used here as it is in its first degree of comparison.
(c)Harder-It is in the comparative degree(‘Hard’ + ‘-er’=’Harder’) and is the correct option as it shows that the blow was with more force than the earlier one.
(d)More harder-This is an invalid combination of words as we cannot use ‘more’ with ‘harder’. We cannot use a superlative degree with a superlative degree.
Hence, option ‘c’ is the correct option. The complete sentence would be – ‘He hit him harder than before.’

Note:Most adverbs have different forms to show degrees of comparison – the positive, the comparison, and the superlative degrees of comparison.