What is an adverb?

An adverb is a word that describes a verb (action word). It tells you more about an action. Adverbs which tell you how people do things are called adverbs of manner and they often end in ly.

Adverbs of manner

tell us how someone does something

Ex. My sister runs quickly.

I did my homework carefully.

Sonic is running quickly.

The turtle is walking slowly.

Usually

we just add "-ly" to an adjective to get the adverb form

beautiful -> beautifully

quick -> quickly

If the adjective ends in "y"

change the "y" to an "i" and add (-ly)

ex. happy -> happi -> happily

angry => angrily

She angrily slammed the door.

noisy => noisily

The swan is flapping its wings noisily.

Some adjectives are irregular

good -> well

good => well

Ronaldo is a good football player. He plays football well.

others stay the same

fast -> fast

hard -> hard

REMEMBER:

1. Some of the adverbs do not end in -ly (e.g. good/well)

2. Some of the adverbs are the same as the adjective form!

e.g. fast, hard, late

3.

Barbara sighed __________ (impatient) and glanced at his watch.

Barbara sighed impatiently and glanced at his watch.

4.

The children were having a secret meeting when _________ (sudden) they heard a terrible noise.

The children were having a secret meeting when suddenly they heard a terrible noise.

5.

Peter got up ______ (late) because he had nothing to do.

Peter got up late because he had nothing to do.

6.

The man hit the prisoner ______ (hard) on its thigh, and left.

The man hit the prisoner hard on its thigh, and left.

7.

Colin did ________ (bad) in his spelling quiz. Therefore, he was not allowed to meet his friends.

Colin did badly in his spelling quiz. Therefore, he was not allowed to meet his friends.

8.

Everyone was frustrated because their plan was not going ______ (good).

Sentence Patterns

There are four common sentence patterns for adverbs of manner in English

Everyone was frustrated because their plan was not going well.

1. verb + adverb

"The ballerina dances beautifully"

-Beautifully follow the verb dances.

-Beautifully describes how the ballerina dances.

Are all words ending in -ly adverbs?

'quickly' vs 'lonely'

2. S V O + adverb

"The children finished their homework quietly"

-Quietly comes after the object homework. 

-Quietly describes how the children finished their homework.

Adverbs of manner = how

Adverbs of manner tell us how someone or something performs an action

3. adverb + verb

"She gently pets the kitten"

-Gently comes before the verb pets

-Gently describes how she pets the kitten.

Look at the examples below

• My dog barks loudly

• I walk quickly

4. verb + adverb + verb

"They are patiently waiting for the bus"

-Patiently comes between are and waiting.

-Patiently describes how they are waiting for the bus.

Form

How are adverbs of manner form in English?

Adverb of manner = Adjective + -ly

Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding -ly to the adjective

Look at the examples

• soft - softly

• quick - quickly

• careful - carefully

Exception

There are some exception to the -ly rule.

Some adverbs of manner don't end in -ly

Some adverbs of manner don't end in -ly, and some others remain the same

• good becomes well

• fast - fast

• late - late