ADVERB

What is an Adverb?

An adverb is a word that is used to change, modify or qualify several types of words
including an adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or any other type of word or
phrase, with the exception of determiners and adjectives, that directly modify nouns.

 Adverbs are often formed by adding the letters “-ly” to adjectives. This makes it
very easy to identify adverbs in sentences. There are many exceptions to this
rule; everywhere, nowhere, and upstairs are a few examples.

An adjective in English describes a noun. An adverb describes a verb, an adjective, another

adverb, or even an entire sentence.

Most adverbs have a special ending: -ly. You can form adverbs from some adjectives, but
you must be careful of the spelling.

FORMATION OF ADVERB
Many adjectives can be transformed into adverbs. In most cases, we do this by simply
adding -ly to the end of the adjective.

Here are some examples:

 suddenly  kindly  clumsily

 brightly  generously  lazily
 slowly  calmly  hastily
 mysteriously  nervously  messily
 really  generally  readily
 interestingly  happily  stealthily
 politely  angrily  cozily

Many adverbs are formed from adjectives and end in -ly. Here are some tips to help you
form adverbs and spell them correctly:
 The basic rule is that -ly is added to the end of the adjective:

adverb
adjective

quick quickly

sudden suddenly

straightforwar
straightforwardly
d
 If the adjective has two syllables and ends in -y, then you need to replace the
final –y with -ily:
adjectiv
adverb
e

happy happily

hungry hungrily

lazy lazily

 If the adjective ends with a consonant followed by -le, replace the final -e with -
y on its own:

Sometimes, the adjective ends in ‘y’. In these cases, replace the ‘y’ with ‘i’ and add
‘ly’. Examples are as follows,

breezy breezily
Adjective Adverb

cozy cozily
easy easily

cheery cheerily
lucky luckily

busy busily
happy happily

angry angrily  In some cases, the adjective ends in

‘le’, ‘able’ or ‘ible‘. In these cases,
replace the ‘e’ with ‘y’. Examples of 
these adverbs formation are,
hungry hungrily

Adjective Adverb

heavy heavily
 gentle gently tragic tragically

terrible terribly basic basically

probable probably dramatic dramatically

capable capably energetic energetically

fashionable fashionably economic economically

suitable suitably strategic strategically

responsible responsibly arithmetic arithmetically

eligible eligibly geometric geometrically

horrible horribly artistic artistically

incredible incredibly academic academically

 If the adjective ends in ‘ic, then  For adjectives that end in ‘cal’, just
add ‘ally’. The exception is ‘public’. add ‘ly’ to turn it into an
The adverb for ‘public’ is adverb. Examples–
‘publicly’. Some examples are
Adjective Adverb
Adjective Adverb
 chemical chemically early early

biological biologically late late

logical logically daily daily

grammatical grammatically far far

physical physically close close

mechanical mechanically fast fast

mathematical mathematically free free

musical musically high high

critical critically low low

medical medically long long

 Some adverbs have the same

form as their adjective. Some
such words are,
Adjective Adverb