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Ch 17

Adverbs of Manner

-ly endings · well · fast · hard

What are adverbs of manner?

Adverbs of manner describe how an action is done. Most are formed from adjectives.

slow → slowly
She walked slowly.
careful → carefully
He drove carefully.
quiet → quietly
Please speak quietly.
happy → happily
She sang happily.

Forming adverbs: adjective + -ly

Rules for adding -ly

Most adj + -ly
slow → slowly · quiet → quietly · careful → carefully
Adj ends in -y: -ily
happy → happily · easy → easily · heavy → heavily
Adj ends in -le: -ly
gentle → gently · simple → simply · terrible → terribly
Adj ends in -ic: -ally
automatic → automatically · basic → basically

Irregular adverbs

These do NOT add -ly — memorise them

good → well
She sings well. (NOT goodly)
fast → fast
He runs fast. (same form)
hard → hard
She works hard. (NOT hardly — different meaning)
early → early
She arrives early. (same form)
late → late
He arrived late. (NOT lately — different meaning)
hardly ≠ "in a hard way" — it means "almost not": I hardly slept = I barely slept. lately = recently: I haven't seen him lately.

Position: after the verb (or object)

Manner adverbs go at the END of the clause

Subject + Verb + Object + adverb of manner
Correct
She speaks English well.
He read the report carefully.
Wrong
She speaks well English.
He read carefully the report.

Common mistakes

She speaks well English.
→
She speaks English well.
adverb of manner after the object
He works hardly.
→
He works hard.
hardly = almost not · hard = with effort
She sang beautiful.
→
She sang beautifully.
adjective modifies noun, adverb modifies verb
She drives very fastly.
→
She drives very fast.
fast is already an adverb — no -ly

Your turn

Answer out loud — full sentences

Answer with adverbs of manner (-ly, well, fast, hard).

1
How do you drive, cook or sing?
2
Describe how a friend speaks English.
3
What do you do well? What do you do badly?
4
Act an action in a certain way — your teacher guesses the adverb.

Recap

Formation
adj + -ly (most cases)
slow → slowly, careful → carefully
Irregular
good→well · fast→fast · hard→hard
she sings well, runs fast
Position
after verb or after object
speaks English well
Trap
hardly ≠ hard · lately ≠ late
I hardly slept ≠ I worked hard
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