Adverbs

An adverb describes a verb. Rememeber a verb is an action or state of being word! There are different types of adverbs.


Mannerslowly, quietly, carefully, loudly, clearly
Timetonight, early, yesterday, today, last week
Placeoutside, inside, downstairs, upstairs, here
Frequency never, frequently, sometimes, occasionally
Degree nearly, very, too, a lot, almost


Adverbs of Manner

Describes how an action happens:

  • He bravely drove the big lorry.
  • They arrived home safely.
  • She walked slowly to the park.

The adverbs of manner mostly end with ly.



Adverbs of Time

Describes when something happens:

  • Tonight, they are going to the concert.
  • They caught the early bus.
  • It snowed this morning.


Adverbs of Place

Describes where something happens:

  • He interviewed them next door.
  • She is playing outside.
  • They are sitting here.


Adverbs of Frequency

Describes how often something happens:

  • Sometimes, she misses the bus.
  • He always sits on that chair.
  • I frequently visit my aunt at her house.


Adverbs of Degree

Describes the degree or the extent to which something happens:

  • I have almost finished my home work.
  • She was very happy when he got promoted.
  • They nearly had a car accident.


Forming an Adverb from an Adjective

Adverbs can be formed from an adjectives by adding ly at the end. Adverbs of manner mostly end with ly.



Adjectives Adverb
bright brightly
loud loudly
quick quickly
soft softly
playful playfully
sweet sweetly
beautiful beautifully
slow slowly
clear clearly


Careful! Some adjectives
also end in ly such as:

  • lovely - A lovely day.
  • friendly - A friendly person.



The following will help you understand the basic spelling rules on how to form an adverb from an adjective.


Adjectives ending in y


Adjectives with a consonant before the y - replace the y with an i and add ly.

Adjectives Adverb
happy happily
merry merrily



Watch out for some exceptions!


Adjective Adverb
Dry Dryly/Drily
Shy Shyly
Sly Slyly






Adjectives with a vowel before the y - add ly at the end.

Adjectives Adverb
grey greyly


Exception!

Day! replace y with i and add ly at the end

Adjective Adverb
Day Daily





Adjectives ending in e


Replace the e with ly
Note! The spelling for whole.

Adjectives Adverb
True Truly
Whole Wholly





Adjectives ending in ful


Just add ly at the end.

Adjectives Adverb
Beautiful Beautifully
Helpful Helpfully





Adjectives ending in able or ible


Replace the e with a y.

Adjectives Adverb
Possible Possibly
Capable Capably





Adjectives ending in ic


Add ally at the end.

Adjectives Adverb
Basic Basically
Economic Economically


Exception!

Public! add ly at the end

Adjective Adverb
Public Publicly



Where to place an Adverb?

In a sentence an adverb can be placed:

At the Front


In the Middle


At the End



Now try the Exercises!